ROWING.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLIV, Issue 4, 26 January 1910, Page 10

ROWING.

The World's Championship. Particulars of the £lOOO purse offered for a sculling match between R. Arnst. the world’s champion, and Barry. the English crack, are given in the laondon ‘‘Sportsman,” of December 4. which says:—“ Today the 4 Sportsman’ is authorised to announce that a number of African financiers and sportsmen have subscribed a purse of £lOOO for a world’s sculling championship race between the holder, Richard Arnst. of New Zealand, and Ernest Barry, the English champion. The match, if all the preliminaries are satisfactorily arranged, will be decided on the occasion of the international regatta on the Zambesi River, South Africa, in August next, over a 31-mile course on the regatta reach, near the Victoria Falls, which, according to competent authorities, offers one of the finest rowing courses in the world. The regatta will be under the direct patronage of the British South Africa Company. “Tlie whole matter was fully discussed at • The Sportsman * office yesterday by Mr. Guy Nick a Us (who is representing the British South Africa Company), Mr. Harry T- Blaekstaffe (the Olympic Sculls champion?, Tom Sullivan ( ex-champion of Englandi, and the rowing representative® of “ The Sportsman.” Mr. Blackstaffe and Sullivan attended in Barry’s interest. and at the outset the former announced that the terms offered were quit® satisfactory to the English champion, and that he would go out with Tom Sullivan as his adviser and trainer. *• The a preaching of Arnst was discussed, and it was deemed advisable to cable to him the following:— Arnst, Christchurch. New Zealand. African sportsmen given .£ 1000 purse. winner £7**o, Arnat-Barry world’s championship. Zambesi, August. Cable expenses required immediately, “ Sportsman,” London. The offer is a remarkable one, and It will Im* surprising if Arnst does not accept. He Im- cleared out all the opposition in Australia and New Zealand, and now has the offer of another race without risking a penny of his own or hi* lacker** money. Truly this is a fine chance, and lucky are the champions a ho live in then* day,. No doubt the object of the. great Aaaudent who ara at tha back of Uiu

project is to develop the country, and we can imagine no better scheme than that of o great sporting match that will attract all South Africa, and direct so much attention to the Zambesi, that on the day of the race it will certainly be the most thought, of river in the world. None the leas remarkable is the patronage given to the race by the British. South Africa Company, which for years has been developing the country. The course upon which the race will take place is near Livingstone, NorthWest Rhodesia, and is within about five miles of Victoria Falls. Mr. Guy Nickalls, who went out last year to organise the Zambesi regatta, speaks highly of it, and, according to “Umfundisi,” who contributed an article to “The Sportsman” after that event, it is a splendid piece of water. He wrote of it as follows:— “The finest course in the world bar none seems to !>e the only opinion on the subject. Those who were accustomed to judge distances on the South African coast looked across directly opposite the boathouse at Long Island, and said, ’Two hundred yards wide’; on consulting the surveyor they found that the true measurement was 450 yards. The whole river at this point is about two miles wide, with many islands; but the regatta course was between Long Island and the North Bank. Practising was delightful; there was never any trouble about crews stopping the course, the five boats being quite lost in the vast expanse of water.” According to Mr. Nickalls, the situation is magnificent, as will be understood when it is mentioned that it is 3,500 feet above the sea level. The stream over which the race is to be decided runs at 745 yards an hour, which is about as fast as Henley, where, however, the crews row against it. There is hotel accommodation for about 500 people. The regatta, however, will attract so many that it has been practically decided to build a huge grass hut city to accommodate the people. The Zambesi railway, too, have promised their assistance. They have a large siding that runs down to the water ■ and overlooks the course. The Company will run trains in which the travellers will live throughout the racing. The sculling championship of the world is, of course, the great event, but the International Regatta, of which it is part, promises to be of exceptional interest, and it will not be surprising if eights, and perhaps fours, go out from England and Europe. The British .South Africa Company hopes to make the event of international importance, and if everything pans out as is hoped, the constitution of some of the crews that will compete for the Zambesi challenge cup will be most interesting. In addition to rowing, there is also to be a gymkhana. British interests will, of course, rest in the sculling championship, and here it is hoped that Arnst will accept the terms, and not be unreasonable in the matter of expenses. He, of course, as world’s champion, has the undoubted right of naming New Zealand as the venue for the next race, but, as previously stated, with such an offer, he can well afford to surrender his claim. The Zambesi, too, is the half-way house between England and New Zealand, and no better neutral waler could be found. Provided Arnst accepts, it is possible tliat Barry wi! remain in England until after Henley Regatta. In tliat event he will leave on July 9 with Sullivan, and arrive at the scene of the race before the end of the month. That will give him three weeks on the water. Nothing, however, is definitely settled, for if it is thought advisable to give the English champion a longer term he will go out earlier. Barry appears likely to undergo some novel experionces. When leavin'* his hotel for his training quarters he will be run down t.o the river by trolleys propelled by six natives. He will also find very hot weather at midday and frost at night. He will take with him two sculling boats and a double sculler for coaching purposes. Directly Arnst’s reply is received, it will be communicated to the parties interested, and then made public. The following letter was posted to the “Sportsman” by Arnst’s manager on January 7:—“Arnst lias cabled Barry, accepting a race on the Zambesi River some time during Augite, 1910, ,for £lOOO, the. winner to take £750 and the loser £250; also Barry to allow Arnst £3OO expenses. Arnst wants you to place to his credit in Christchurch, New Zealand, Bank of Australasia, the aforesaid sum guaranteed for expenses before

May 10, 1910, at which date he proposes to leave New Zealand for Africa. He also insists, in the event of any person or persons wishing to take kinema tograph pictures, or any kind of living pictures of the race, that he shall have the sole right to make any financial or other arrangements he may deem fit as to the control or otherwise of such pictures. This condition is also to apply to souvenirs of himself. I am enclosing a copy of the rules governing the race for the sculling championship of the world- You will see that rule 3 reads:— ‘ The stakes shall be as follow:—Not less than £5OO a-side when it is an international contest; not less than £2OO a - side when two scullers of the same place or country row.’ The question arises right away: Is this for the championship of the world? Personally, I think it is not, and the Press here back up this opinion. This was our reason for cabling to Barry to wager £5OO a-side. However, it is only a question of name, and the match cannot suffer therefrom. I shall be pleased if you will write informing us of the exact date of the contest, the place where it is to be held, and give us all the necessary information of the route, etc., once we land in Africa.” [The match has since been definitely arranged.—Ed. “ Star.”] Pearce Wants to Meet Whelcli. Wbelcb received a challenge from Pearce, of Sydney, this afternoon to row tor the championship of New Zealand, at Akaroa, for £2OO a-side. If no definite reply is received from Arnst next week, Wheleh will accept the challenge from Pearce. They will probably row at Easter. “Tower of Hanoy” Patience. A NEW SOLITAIRE. (By Ernest Bergholt.) This amusing little game is mentioned by Mr. William Dalton in the current number of the “Strand” Magazine,” and I am indebted to hitn for some further explanations of the modus operandi. Take nine plain cards of any suit in numerical order. Shuffle them, and deal them out into three rows of three in a row, face upwards. The first time I dealt them they came out as follows:—•

This happens to be an easy arrangement to manipulate; but, as a first introduction to the solitaire, it is none the worse for that. Our ultimate object is, by moving one card at a time under certain restrictions, to get all the nine cards into one (vertical) column, running, in regular numerical order, from the 10 at the top to the 2 at the bottom. I have lettered the three columns A, B, and C. Only the lowest card of a column can be moved (including, of course, any single card that may happen to be left by itself in a column), and it can only be moved to the foot of another column, the bottom card of which is of a higher denomination. Thus, in the table set out above, tl>e 6 cannot be moved, because there is no place to which to move it, for both the 5 and the 3 are of lower rank than itself. The 5 may be moved to Column B. under the C; and the 3 may be moved either to column A, under the 5, or to column B, under the 6. Whenever a column is left bare of cards, the bottom card of either of the two remaining columns may be put in the top row to fill up the vacancy. The task proposed is always a possible one, no matter how awkwardly the cards may be dealt. Home positions, of course, require many more moves than others; tlie problem, in every case, is to arrive at the prescribed result in the fewest possible number of moves. I find that the above position can be worked

out in 107 moves. Can any of my readers beat this? In stating a move it ia only necessary to name the card moved and to give the letter of the column to which it goes, since in every case it must go to the bottom of the column specified—or to the head of it, of course, should the columnar space happen to be left vacant. Our first aim will be to get the 10 to the top of a column. This can be dona in eleven moves, as follows:—(1) 3 to B; (2) 5 to C; (3) 3 to C; (4) 6 to A; (5) 3 to B; (6) 5 to A; (7) 3 to C; (8) 4 to A; (9) 3 to A; (10) 2 to A; (11) 10 to B. occupying the vacancy at the head. We have now arrived at the foliowins position;—-

Our next aim is to get the 9 immediately under Hie " 10. To make this possible. the five bottom cards of column A must be transferred, to column C, thus leaving the 9 “exposed” at the foot of column A, when it can be shifted to B. But as only one card can be moved at a time, to get tie five cards in question transferred from A to C will take thirty-one moves, beginning with (12) 2 to C. It will not, therefore, be until the 43rd move (reckoning from the start) that we are able to move the 9 to B, next under the 10. At the 20th, 29th, and 32nd move we get tire cards back into the square shape (three in a column). The move that follows (43) 9 to B is, of course (44) 8 to B; and we have then our 10, 9. 8 in proper descending order." At move 70 we get the 7 under the 8, and thirty-one moves more bring the whole of the five cards that are then in column A into column B, completing the problem. Beaders should take the nine cards and actually work through the whole process, which does not take nearly so long to do as it does to describe. They will then clearly see the principles on which every other position may be manipulated. The idea on which the game is based is evidently the “Tower of Hanoy” puzzle, invented a good many years ago by Edouard Buevas. This was a mechanical toy consisting of three upright rotis in a row and a number of circular discs of graduated sizes, each pierced in the centre by a hole, so that it could be threaded on to any one of the rods. The discs are first placed on one of the rods in proper order, the largest at the bottom and the remainder tapering gradually upward to the summit. The puzzle then is to move one disc at a time, always shifting it either on to an empty rod, or on to a larger disc on another rod, until eventually the whole of the discs have been again built up. in proper graduated order, upon one of the other two rods. So far as I recollect, the legend attaching to the toy, it was of a certain Brahmin doomed to move one stone at a time, on the point of an adamantine needle, under the restrictions stated, until the whole of a large tapering pagoda or tower had been transferred in its proper shape to another locality. Those learned in Hindu lore will perhaps pardon me if I have not got all the details of the story quite accurately. Supposing there were only thirty stones to move, a rough calculation (I hope it is correct) shows that the task would require 1,073,741323 moves, which one would suppose ought to go a long way towards bringing the toiler into final beatitude. The connection 'between the puzzle of M. Lucas and the new solitaire being ole vious, I have christened the latter by the title appropriate to it. My ingenious friend, Henry E. Dudeney (“Sphinx”), lias introduced -an additional development into the “Tour tl'Hanoi” puzzle by supposing four rods, instead of three —-which of course given u« extra facilities for making the transference of discs, but at the same time makes rt more difficult to ascertain th# minimum number of moves in which the complete transference of a pile can be effected. To move twenty-eight discs from one rod to another, there being four rods in all, would require only 709 moves —and there is one method only by which’ the result can be achieved so rapidly—■whereas, if there were only three rods, the nunfbex of move* required would ba 268.436.456.