SWIMMING.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1348, 27 January 1912, Page 14

SWIMMING.

[By, "Octopus."]

At the Baths. - The: various,clubs are getting .iiito full Working order,iu. spite .of. the 'fact that wo have ; had no fine .weather to encourage them. lhe AVelliugton Club held tiio una! of -their second distance—the 100 yards—for the President's Cup last Friday evening. Grimmett easily won his heat, and also cantered off with the final. One would certainly have expected better work in the handicapping from one who has had as much experience as Mr. W G. Morpeth lias. Each of the heats was won easily. The Thorndou "hundred" on Wedncsday evening was,won-by F. Roberts from Konayne and Brice. The latter has, apparently, gone a trifle stale from overtraining, as he is not doing nearly such good times as ho put ,up a year ago. King, of Thorndon, seems to be about the most improved swimmer in tho club this season. He is swimming very, consistently, nearly always getting into a place. The Polo Game. Important matches in the -water polo championship tournament will be played this afternoon. The competing teams on this pension wi 1 be:-Wellington against Old Boys, and Thorndon against Swifts, it is<a hard thing to-pick the winners of ?H- V „ 1 ? an ?° frol >; paper, but it looks as if Wellington will get a decision over the new club, while Thorndon, ought to do likewise . with Swifts. The Picnic at Masterton.

The 'Wellington.boys who journeyed to Masterton on Monday are all agreed that they had enough fun to compensate them for half a dozen trips- Certainly they were favoured by.the gods, for they hail a perfect day, both in weather aud the amount of prizes they collected.

BriCe, as befitted the New Zealand champion, carried off tho Wellington provincial 100 yards championship, but ho had very little to spare from Healy at the end. This, however, was. largely duo to the effects of the' fresh water. Brice, however, must have taken .notice of my remarks oh politicians at the baths, as lie paid more attention to comic-events than - to serious swimming. He annexed the "cork" race, and the "blindfold" race,;in this, class. Healy did very little in keeping with his reputation. Seymour .gave him' five seconds and a twenty-five .'yards'.beating in the quarter, so he is not now the star artist that he.was a'few years ago.. Little managed to get home in the 75 yards from his clubmate. Bridge. The Lyall Bay Surf Club secretary, R. OTlaherty, very appropriately carried off the life ; saving competition.. . Ivirig managed a couple of seconds, but, in the breast-stroke particularly, his time was very good, and it appears as if he were just about the'best man in Wellington in that particular style of swimming. ........ The Thorndon trio (Brice, Healy, and King) easily won the relay race. The star performer of the meeting.was not a Wellingtonian- at all, however,'.as ,G. Seymour, of Napier, who has improved greatly since I last saw him, won the two big handicaps. He is only a boy yet, and if he continues to improve as he has done in the last twelve months, he will soon be right in. the phampion class. His performance in the WO .yards was a bril-liant-.'one.' Though he gave away big starts, no one dsn looked-like -having-a chance. In Other Places, The Auckland team for the relay championship •must.be-a very strong combination this year., They have .all of last year's team, and one or two .quite as good to choose : from. . Masterton ' has - become . very self-con-scious since Miss (yLeary has proved herself such >a champion.' ■■ For'-tieir own good they 'might do worse than sand this invincible lady to Auckland to prove her mettle against Miss Fanny Durack, who is coming-'over with the,.Sydney team. The Canterbury team for-the New Zealand championships will be considerably weakened by the loss of, Atkinson—this both in., racing- and. in polo. ■ ■

The musical instrument seller had succeeded at last in working off a cheap fiddle on a customer at four times its value. "Where shall I send it?" lie inquired "To !)11. -— : Street.: My flat is oil the .third floor." The fiddle dealer's face fell, lie had moved, with his family the day before, to the flat, on the second floor of No. tll-t Street, on a throo years' agreed ment. '

The Mayor of Ealing and the. nine past Mayors of the borough have each promised to plant an oak tree in Walpole Park, Ealing,, in commemoration of a year of office. ' The number will be added to by each succeeding Mayor until what- will be known as the" Mayors' Avenue is formed. Since 187,1 more than 12,000 h-ees have been planted in Riling, and at the present time there aro filtv miles of avenues. ;

She: "Sometimes you appear really manly, and .sometime* you are ofI'cfniiiiito: How do you account' for it?" Hp: "It's hereditary, I suppose. Oiiebnlt' of.my anotstors were males aud the other tali femalca*"-