The Timaru Herald THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1908. BOXING.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIIC, Issue 13774, 10 December 1908, Page 4

The Timaru Herald THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1908. BOXING.

The question whether the revival" of boxing, «'hich Australasia has witnessed in recent years, is a good thing or..a bad thing, is one of those matters of opinion about which men will never be able to completely agree, because though abuses are possible, and .even apt to appear, there are also points about boxing which make the practice and the encouragement of the art worth while. A correspondent, whose second letter appears to-day, dwells upon the abuses of boxing which come before the public in the shape of professional pugilism. Two correspondents have defended boxing, looking only to its better side. It is an easy thing to defend lwxing as ft manly exercise. Properly practised it brings into play every muscle of the human frame, not-merely in "exertion as §andow exercises may do, hut in- swift r exercises appropriate to a sudden emer- > geucy; it develops the lungs and the heart; it calls forth 'and- braces,up valuable mental qualities, coolness, alertness, temper, correlation of -Jtody. and mind, as perhaps no other exercise ever devised can do. There is an boxing too the urgent stimulus 'of .immediate personal <■ encounter! Mantis primevally a fighting animal. . Most of the lower animals have -hut .one game, and that is mimic fighting. The lambs in the fields butt one another, the sucking pigs in the, yard, pretend to fight with tusks that have yet to grow, as soon as they are able to run about freely. . Like them, man. has retained from a primitive stage of his evolution an instinct for combat, and will retain it. in spite of all that< may be done to suppress it. ' -It would he suicidal to suppress it. Boxing is one of the forms in which.thi* instinct has manifested itself in play throughout all ages, wrestling another: and so long as boxing is play, it is impossible to kco how it cm be'reasonably objected to. It is harmless, provided that it.is indulged in with commonsense regard to necessary conditions of health, in lh'ginning and continuing the exercise, a precaution not less necessary jn the case of any other vigorous game. H is not notably harmful, in a physical sense, even when it is no longer play, but downright earnest, and it will compare very well wit,l" football in this respect. It is said that professional pugilists of the old school of ,50- ami in<T years ago were generally shortlivedj hut this was probably duo, to other causes than their pugilism. The abuse of boxing, as of "so many other ' games, is professionalism, and this is a Fault that is not properly to be laid to the charge of boxing itself. It springs from the delight with which men witness a contest of any kind, into the spirit or which they can cnler, arid feel that they would like to bo able to do what they see the trained experts doing: and when the contest, is of a kind that appeals to and awakens so deep-seated and ineradicable an instinct as that of combat, the emotions awakened become too keen to be suppressed hy the average man.- It is this appeal which causes a brisk pugilistic encounter to furnish a croud with an unique excitement. A '"scrap" on a racecourse, a show ground, or in the street, will draw a crowd with greater swiftness and certainty than anything else that can hapjien of so really trivial a nature. Crowds so draw-n nowadays will not include ©vorjp man in the vicinity as years ago would have been the ease, experience having proved that these casual ennnietk are really more ridiculous than, respectable, as conflicts. Professional boxing in"all ages has lw:on duo to the fact that v many men were willing to pay for the kind of excitement above referred' to, and to go to some trouble as well as expense to procure it. The demand produces the professional lighter, "'arid the supply reacts '"upon the demand, judicious advertising Utm'i used to arouse the desire to 'enjoy, .and the willingness in pay 'fur the excitement. It is easy to see' that there is" no IX'iie(it, physical'or-moral.'to he gained by the eye-witnesses at a. professional boxing match. K.nvc perhaps the very small minority who practise hosing as a game or exercise, and may learn frnin the more experienced how to improve their ohm game if they go fo the unit, !i with that object in view, just-as ! .1 sham liuht of Volunteers may he mi|,r:i\vd by applying experience gained liy actual warfare. I'W the r.-L -i>! th<> |i.ol;ers-oti a boxing match

i* J.jaj>lv an i-iit«Tt«iiHii«-*ii4 of a :tllv <x<ttin>; kind; ami it iv:» question iur |ivu'hoiogists whi-tluT it, is a good tiling <>r .-i liai! thing to :irou?u* hy iimn* in;.', latent in-Units- which an* vahiahti* hi tlmir pro|w>r ftpJwr*>-of application. If »c mistake not, the pvvcholoiisU vi y thai it in a distinctly hail thin}-, Im.;iii.,< it t«i!(ls to imikoti the institute appealed So. ami this HHISI i*- <ii»> i.i tin- Mnuij'i>*;t. grounds of condemnation of pnhlic i-xhihitioiis of professional lioxnij', when tlti'w* take tin; form of urinal fighting. This is the form they do take, am! must tak<\. or the crowd will not 1m- drawn to juh> tiu-iji ami prn'vidc tho wolWH 1 to pay for them. So far n<* Urn professional l»o\«r hiuwotf is concerned, there is nothing n<<«>,s.srily 'degrading:" ill fho actual practice of his peculiar calling. Quite ill.- contrary. Th<' proff*sion-U hoMT. as mirh. must ho n dean liver: and si In- is not a rcstHH-'ahlp am! t -,:• *|m>H<'<l memher ol MM'i«*ty, it is ii.*it. Imiihim- In. s, u (wiser, hut for nilicr reasons which would ;i|nci' him had h*> never put on «'l<.v«>: ill hi-' life. Thorn

are> some featnrcs. in professionalism which are the reverse ok' commendable. hat thes** are attributable in part to the; 111 "repute in which the calling has fallen ami its uncertainty as a means -«£ * HreKhood:. ami still more, to the r&trt played by people who profit by tt&» hard Work of the boxer, without soaring; either- hi* laborious exercise or lm " ptinudiiuent.'* *