BOXING AT THE TOWN HALL.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 587, 16 August 1909, Page 5

BOXING AT THE TOWN HALL.

; ./;>; A: PT?LPIT PROTEST. /. j .At the Wellington Baptist Church,, the; ■IRev.' J.'. J'. -North recorded the.following protest, last evening:— ■ .' : '••"..' '-./. • '■ j I -"I want to utter here aprotest against a publip shame.. The Town Hal) of this city is'! delivered.over for a prize-fight, which;will : be 1 'fought und6r and with; ihousual accompaniments : 'of 'gambling and grossness 'on .Wednesday" next. Town halls should re; [present.;':thewideals : of a'city.j nothings lessi' .The , dignity.that belongs to'such halls.as ours, lias 'beeii "strangely: forgotten by those.- i.n- ---; authority. ,''The!'lJlayor now presents .the fpitizeM witi. a 'prize-fight. . I had, a man , at' my v hbuso who has/done a great deal of ring -fighting, and he laughed to scorn the'flimsy pretence which blinded , the eyes of the couli-' cillprs. -We are in for.a.keen prize-fight in, a hall that , ought to be oobsecrated to.whatsoever things are pure and lovely and of good report. :No man can read the account of the interview of the'.'boxing au'tjioribiea with the committee of the council without amazement., The, men who had arranged; for one man to fight another man said nothing more pertinent tnan that they might lose £260 if the!hall was refused. They,do not seem to have asked' if other halls were available. They, were not asked what the Sydney. Council would have, said if the Sydney Hall had been applied.for .for the recent fight there.-They simply'talked to tho possible loss 'of £260: It;was clear that they had no right to ex-, pect , the hall; that they had been told from the first that, permission was in suspense. They pulled a face over, £260, and for the sake;of: so much trash, the Town Hall of tniscity: is put lower! than that. of a third-rato South; American'city. I. want to take_ this opportunity pf saying that tho amateur fights that have been carried on'here liave been brutal ■ and demoralising. -'An M.P. with boxing sympathies was asked to.preside the other day. at a tourney. He saw six men ;knocked senseless and left sick. A man who was in the house who is devoted to the sport in the.gymnasium was disgusted by the dis-plays:-that are offered to the Wellington public;'- The -fact.is that if there were/trials of;.skill they would draw no gate. If the :knock-out blow were penalised, the. sport as a public show would be.paralysed.: Men go to/see these fights-for the same reason that Spaniards go to bull fights .and <ild (Romans to the Arena: They go to stir the. brute arid to take their fill of sights that are alien'to the spirit of the ago and to the .spirit of hui'manity. It was pretended by ; tho: promoters that : the. fight on Wednesday would not be as brutal as the Sydney scandal. , It was, mere: protenco; There is, indeed, to, be an' extra ounce of horse-hair in each glove, and there is to.be no wrestling. But these men are fighting for a purse, as those men; were. They are fighting for a title, as those men werei They are also ' fighting ...under, rules which require them to knock each, other senseless if they are to be'sure of a verdict. These men, are.fighting under that veryirule which l nauseated . Australia. . the stunned and bleeding fighter staggers to his feet' before the count is. done, ne must be knocked senseless again—cruelly disgusting and; inhuman and nakedly unchivalrous. This thing "occurred in Sydney in a flimsy structure in a distant suburb. It is to be_perrtrated here pn the floor of the Town Hall.'• ask Londoners whether it iis credible that tho Guildhall would'be let for a prize-fight? I- ask Australians whether they dream that Sydney or Melbourne would sink to this level? In letting tho hall for a fight, the councillors have mado the city contemptible among British cities.. I protest with all watmth against this sanction lent by the corporation to prize-fighting, and I ask you tbjora.in the protest.! . •