THE RENAISSANCE OF THE RING.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1829, 1 May 1888, Page 3

THE RENAISSANCE OF THE RING.

The fistic revival which, undor the auspices of .Royalty, has set m at Home, has, as might have been expected, reached to the colonies, and only a few days ago we had news from Sydney of a prize-fight between two men named Boland and Carroll for "the lightweight championship." This was followed, m our own colony last week, by what is termed a " boxing match " between Laing and Slavin, of which the ugly details arc given by many of our contemporaries with a disgusting particularity. In New Bouth Wales, very properly, the police are taking proceedings with a view to the punishment of the principals, but so iar it would appear that the guardians of the peace m New Zealand have no intention of interfering m tlio mattttr. Wo noticed tho otbor ! day m the letter of the Wellington j correspondent of one of our exchanges that it was given as an on dit that one or more of the "sports" interested m the then forthcoming contest at Wanganui had interviewed a member of tho <iJ ovorment with a view to secure the noniDterferonce of tho polico, and if this be true we hope the Ministor promptly refused the request, and that tho nonintervention of the police is m no way due to Ministerial instructions. If. on tho contrary, it is due to such instructions then it is high time that tho Government were called to account, and it is to be hoped that some enquiry will bo made into tho facts of the case at tho approaching session of Parliament. For it is vain to plead that the Wanganui affair was " only a glove-fight," tho amount of "punishment" which can bo, and is, inflicted with tho gloves on, being quite sufficiently severe to bring such exhibitions under tho like condemnation as was passed years ago by tho common consent of all decent people upon prize-fights pure and simple: All such exhibitions are m our opinion of a most demoralising and brutalising tendency, and wo invite all those who believe (and who does not?) m the general indications of physiognomy to glanco at the hcadß and faces of professional pugilists, and their patrons and there they will find written so un mistakably, that ho who runs may read, tho lowering tendency of tho miscalled " Noblo Art." Lowbrowed, fiat-nosed, heavy-jawed, Naturo has printed tho word " ruffian " upon tho features of its professors and patrons as plainly as it could be displayed m tho largest poster typo. Glance again at its literature — save tho mark I— and it tells tho samo story. Disguised m an argot of slang terms designed slightly to veil tho brutality of tho whole business which it were too disgusting to describe m ordinary Queen's Knglish, tho reporters of these hideous affairs record (to quote a writer m a contemporary) " tho exact moment when ' claret ' was first drawn, and tho state m which tho ' poppers/ ' box of ivories/ and other portions of the frame were m, after repeated blows of tho humau sledgehammer. All this information, down to tjio condition, to. whicji b,oth combatants wei<o reduced after, say, the sixtieth round, is recorded m terms tho most minute, unscientific, and rovolting." And why the use of such synonyms ? Bimply because to write plainly of tho covering of the faces of the combatants with blood, of the closing ot their eyes by a ( rain of blows, and of tho knocking out of their teeth would be to present tho I facts m a guise which would cause every decent person to recoil with disgust. Wo regard it as very deplorable that there should be found even m high quarters apologists for so degrading a '< sport . and hope that m New Zealand at any« rate, public opinion will put down any attempt to establish it among us. Our Borough and City Councils do well, as most of them have done, m making by-laws prolubitjng such, exhibitions within the bounds of municipalities, and if need bo tho Legislature should bo called upon to pass a law rendering it a punishable offence to take part m or to I aid or abet m any prize-fight or glove- 1 ! fight m any part of the colony, '