FAST RUNNERS HIRED

Taranaki Daily News, 9 December 1926, Page 14

FAST RUNNERS HIRED

TO STAKE DIAMOND CLAIMS. The diamond rush in the Transvaal district late last month has created a grave issue in South African amateur sporting circles, and the governing bodies have been asked to rule whether “Diamond Runners” may retain amateur standing. Trained athletes, some of whom were contestants in the Olympic games, were hired by syndicates to stake out claims. One syndicate employed thirty university athletes as runners. In the rush some 15,000 persons, including more than 100 women, scrambled to stake out claims on a farm in the Transvaal, where one party of prospectors alone had found diamonds worth £36,000. Moro than 25,000 claims were pegged out in the rush, and the population of the district was increased from a few hundred to almost 50,000 overnight. The mining commissioners, to insure fairness, made all contestants in the diamond rush take out a license ' and start at the same/time from a spot a considerable distance from the treasure field. The trained runners naturally had the best of the race, but the fact that they were acting for syndicates and not for themselves irritated the other contestants, who do not think they had a fair chance. It is proposed to take the complaints before the International Athletic Federation if the South African body refuses to act.