ROWING.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1259, 14 October 1911, Page 12

ROWING.

-5 » WIXDT WjUHOTA FX AUTOA'A". 0 ' c ,1 (By "Mekccrt. ) >- To-day.—Opening .I'etono Tt.C. Season. 1' November I.—Slur B.C. Club Events. Q J" >- But Support the Wind-swept Pond. (. Ot.ngo' carried far too many guns for s Wellington in the voting for tho honour g of conducting tho champioiship regatta 1 at. the N.Z.A.A.A. meeting last Saturday. • It. was known that Canterbury was supporting tlio Otago claim, and when the • Auckland delegates produced thc-ir inl stnictions to do likewise it became only 0 too apparent that Wellington's turn hail s been deferred yet another year. However, j the matter is decided now, and although t "Mercury" for ono is firmly of the opin--3 ion that Lake Waihola is net at all tho - place for such an important fixture on 1 account of its "un-get-at-nblc-nefs," and t the travelling and transhipping of boots .• and gear entailed—factors wliicJi will, as in tho past, rob tihc_affair of its reprcsenta- . tivo character—still, rowing nto.n all over ) the Dominion should now give the Otago . Association their co-operation in ondeavi ouring to make the occasion a worthy , ono. It is probable that the meeting will r bo held early in February. ' The Proteges of Mr. Seifert. 1 "Jack" Arnst justified tho worst fears of tho boating fraternity by getting : soundly trounced on tho Thames by Wm. ■ Albany. Mr. Seifert—his end Fogweil's '< backer—must lx> finding his English en--1 terprises rather expensive, but he will havo the satisfaction of knowing that • even if his heart lias been too big for his 1 judgment, his etforts have had an appre--1 ciable effect on popularising professional ; sculling in England. 1 Reports of tho training operations of the Fogwell-Bajry match, which were reaching their final stages when the English mail left Home, show that groat interest was being taken in the men and their work, and tha 1 ; the New Zealand party were making themselves very popular on and oil the river. The result of : this popularising of sculling is already being felt, judging from a cable received in Sydney last week, which reported that a national subscription had teen put in hand to raise tho "needful" to got "Dick" Arnst Home to row Barry; ond that a fair response had already been mado by the British public. Perhaps, therefore, Mr. Seifcrt's sportsmanlike ventures may ■ bear good fruit after all. Apropos of tho Albany-Arnst race, the following from the London "Sportsman" makes rather amusing reading now that we know the result. 'It was published on August 2G, whilo tho negotiations were stiU in hand:— Mr. Geo. Seifert, who overlooked Fogwell's work, informed our representative that Albany had signified his willingness to take 12sec. start off Arnst. Mr. Seifert asked us to state that he could not for a moment consider that as a proposition, and added that the only terms upon which Arnst could be matched against AlIxiciy would be a level start. Arnst, who was also present, agreed, and added that lie failed to realise by what reasoniug Albany considered that he ought to have a start. Now, had Arnst "signified his willingness to take twelve seconds start" one could have understood it. But Albany— scarcely. Now, Can the Real Arnst Go Home? Reverting to the matter of the ArnstBarry propoxjtiun, and the national subscription, "Rigger," in the Sydney "Daiiy Telegraph," writes:— Matters are in much tho sanio unsatisfactory condition as they were last week as far as the proposed Arnstliurry race is concerned, The onlv new l'eaturo that has been brought into the position is that a national fund has been started in England to raise Barry's stake and the oxpensos Arnst claims. A sum of ,£SOO has been offered to Arnst as a last resource to ifiduce luin to make the trip to England, but he still maintains his attitude of indifference to any offer on the wrong side of JilOOfl. It is generally admitted that this sum is an exorbitant one to ask for expenses, but then Arnst is just as satisfied to remain in' NowSouth Wales without a race, so ho cannot bo blamed. In these circumstances, the only direction in which one might look for the solving of the difficulty is that whero the subscription is being taken up If this is to succeed it will need to be a very substantial and genuino fund, because if Arnst adhere.* to his - deci>ion that he will not lake anything less than .£IOOO for expenses— and judging by his manner at present he will-then the fund will have n „ S tal somet,lln !? like X-IGSO, or . JHOOO expenses for' Arnst, -CSOO for Barry s stake, and .£l5O training expenses for Barry. There is no doubt that it is a largo sum to raise; but, seeing that there are many wealthy people there who are interested in sport, there is no knowing but that the wliolo amount will be got together. Until it is, however, it seems pretty certain that Arnst will not listen to any other effer. The Amateur Status Question. It* v Cl " esti , oU , ot amateur status of how Zealand oarsmen, accordmg to the Australian code, was referred to last woe c, and the hope was expressed that tho difficulty had been overcome, indeed had been indicated by the ambiguous cablegram from Sydney published in tho daily columns. Full particulars are now to hand, and they show that the cablegram referred to tho ratification of the old order ot things, so that we are still beyond the pale as far as intor-Stato is concerned. A Sydney paper, in its report ot the meeting of the New South Wales Association, at which tho matter was discussed, explains tho position very succinctly in this way: "Tho practice in New Zealand is for the amateur clubs to competo among themselves for cash prizes. Tho clubs receive tho cash, while tho successful competitors are presented with trophies of small value by their clubs at tho ond of tho season. The rules of tho New Zealand liowing Association allow this to be done. "The New South Wales Rowing Association rules provide that a man loses his amateur status when "lie knowingly enters or competes for cash in any shape or form.' The question has arisen, arc New Zealand amateur oarsmen amateurs in this State or not, seeing that; their clubs received the cash, although they competed for it, but never received it? "Tho New South Wales Rowing Association has ruled that they arc not amateurs, and must bo reinstated before they can compete in this State, and then only in contests within tho State and not inter-State, owing to tho ' fact that the Inter-State Rowing Conference decided that no reinstated man is cligiblo to compote in inter-Stuto ] or enter national contests." I The New Zealand Association has taken ' tho matter up, and is endeavouring to * get this very absurd, from our point of ; view, restriction removed. The commonsense way out of the difficulty is for the ' Australian control to recognise as nma- 1 teurs everyone who is recognised as such in hi? nvi\ State or country, as is dono at the Olympic Games. To-day the l'efone Club is holding tho usual ceremonies in connection with the formal opening of its season. Weather permitting, several of the crews in training for the Wellington and Star Club's events are rowing out to measure blades with the suburbanites in tho racing section of tho function.