WHAT ATHLETES HAVE DONE.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume II, Issue 568, 4 December 1915, Page 11

WHAT ATHLETES HAVE DONE.

FINE PERCENTAGES OF ENLISTMENTS.

i_ evening of the committee of t e . Canterbury Centre of the New Z( d land Amateur Athletic Associatic ie that the athletes of Canterbury ai y Westland—the latter province is i i- eluded in the centre's district—ha y furnished a very fine percentage d their numbers to the Dominion's E e peditionary Forces. 1-. The president (Mr A. L. Chappel i- pointed out that some time ago tl committee" had circularised all i e clubs, asking for lists of men wl d had joined the forces and of tl e club members who were left, tl f latter detail being required so th e the committee could estimate tl r prospects of holding sports meetinj during the coming season. Some < n the information had been before tt ti committee at its previous meetin i: but since then additional inform: y tion had.come to hand. The ii - formation was not quite as complel tl as was desired, owing to the chang< i, in secretaryships. Since the ws >, | started three successive secretarh s of the centre had enlisted, and Uh *, J fourth secretary who had been ai ;, pointed since the outbreak of ws e was now in charge of the Y.M.CJ e work at the Maymorn Camp, s f that the centre was temporaril e without a secretary. There had als - been changes in the club's secretarj ships, and the two factors had con i bined to make the work of gettin - exactly the lists required very diff 1 cult. The Westport Club had foi f warded its lists since the centre i' previous meeting was held, an f these showed that the Westport Clu s had sent nearly half its total men a bership to the front—24 men out c 52. The Y.M.C.A. Club had sent ovc 2 one-third of its total membershii 1 and the Canterbury A.A. Club ha 1 sent over 35 per cent. The exact pei i centage figures for the Canterbur College Club were not available, bu the list sent in showed that 51 mem bers of that club had gone to th front. The club, therefore, had don remarkably well in enlistments. 1 should be remembered that the mem bership lists of the various clubs in eluded old athletes who had retire< from the track and had married 1 When this fact was taken into ac count, and a percentage allowed foi still active athletes who had depend ents and for those who had not beer accepted for service, the percentag< of amateur athletes from the cen tre's district who had enlisted wai very high indeed, i { The president continued that hi had raised this matter partly to explain the position of the roll oi honour which the centre had decid ed to compile, and partly because Mi P. S. McCallum, secretary to the Canterbury College Club, had in terviewed him on the previous day and had represented the club's position to him. Mr McCallum woulc be going into camp with the 11th Reinforcements, and, when he/left the only member of the club's committee left in Christchurch would be its president, who had been examined by three doctors, two of whom were military doctors, and had been told that, although he might be accepted after undergoing an operation, he had little chance of getting past Egypt. The only other member of the College Club's committee who had not enlisted had lost his two brothers, both killed in action, and he was the only son remaining to his parents. More could not be expected of the club's committee. The club had not "enough members left to elect an executive, and it certainly could not hold any races during the present se'asoh. It was a fine record. In the circumstances, the speaker suggested that the centre executive be empowered to remit the Canterbury College Club's subscription for the present season. ' The speaker added that the effect of enlistments on the sport was to be seen in the programme for the River Bank Carnival sports, in which not a single race over 440 yds had been included for adult athletes. As all athletes knew, the proportion of men fit for military service was higher among middle-dis-tance and distance runners than amongst sprinters, and at the present time there was scarcely a middledistance or distance runner left in Canterbury. The only hope for evening meetings during the season was to cater almost entirely for the younger athletes, especially schoolboys. The president's suggestion regarding the Canterbury College Club's subscription was adopted .