SWIMMING.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1366, 17 February 1912, Page 18

SWIMMING.

[Bt "OoToroa."]

ON THE FORM OF SOLOMONS. j The Old Boys' Success. To begin with, the Old Boys' carnival was 0110 of the best-managed, and' therefore ono of the most successful, galas at which it has been my good fortune to bo present. The secretary, and all the members of the committee, worked hard and conscientiously, and they deserved their success. Luckily, too, for them, I lie rain cleared off during the night, before, and gave them a brigiit, clear day. Solomons at Our Baths. Tlio outstanding feature of tho carnival was the brilliant effort of the Sydney visitor, Solomons. He is with the cracks in Sydney, but, in New Zealand, he is quite by himself. His style attracted attention before some of the people knew w>jo ho was, and made them look up their programmes to find the flyer's name. This visit should do a great deal of good to Wellington swimmers, giving them a better insight into the proper methods of the crawl stroke.

SolonuWs actions were quite a revelation to some of our so-called crawl artists, especially in the leg action. Our swimmers have, so far, failed to get the greatest possible amount of speed for the work done, because they keep their legs too still'.

The invitation Handicap was looked forward .to b.v the spectators to produce a fine race, bilt Solomons upset the other men's chances with his starting plunge. When ho rose from the dive, lie was alongside lirice; with his turn he got some yards ahead, and eventually won by some six or suven yards from Brice, with Roberts another yard further away. Healy wanted nearer twelve than two seconds to give him a chance. Roberts and Brice, tco, might have benefited from a little more leniency from the handicapper. They are not quite so close to' Solomons as the handicaps would haw us believe, however much we might liko to think so. . ■ Thorndon Wins the Cup Again. The greatest-interest was manifested b.v local swimmers in the race for the Walker and Hall Cup. Shrewd judges would not have anybody but Thorndon to win, and, ultimately, they were proved correct, lirice established a good lead for his team in the lirst lap, and the other members ol' the combination carried on the good work. Little, of Wellington, pulled up a good deal on King in the third lap, and Stranger, of the same club, at one time looked like catching liobcrts, but, otherwise, it was all Thorndon. The order of the other clubs throughout was Wellington, Swifts, and Old Boys, in that order, without variation. The well-known footballer, J. Gosling, was expected to supply the winner in the 50yds. handicap, and," swimming in his best form, won rather easily by about threo yards from Solomons. The 100 yds. was yet another victory for a man witli a big handicap, as Scott secured the verdict from another of about the same calibre in l''arnaU. Neither of Iheso races brought out any exceptional performances. •lust by way of showing his versatility Solomons easily won the diving competition, ami showed our boys a little about the game of water polo. The Polo Exhibition. It was arranged that the A and B teams were to play an exhibition game before the tofl.m >vas linnllv selected to go to Chxislchuxck. Ultimately the whole

business degenerated into a farce. Firstly, several well-known players, for various reasons, did not fill their allotted places, and, secondly, no 0110 treated tlio ganio seriously. " - ■ . Solomons played in the B team, and proved in this, as he did in swimming, that ho is a first-Highter. Principally through his agency, and being well backed up, tlio ]3's managed to win by 4 goals to 2.

As a result of this frame, Hanna and Morpeth take the places pf Roberts and Kelly of tlio A team, which is otherwise the sanin as for last Saturday. Roberts and Kelly have found it impossiblo to make tlio trip Our Chances in Championship. Judging fran reports received from other ccntyes, and from the exhibitions at home, it. does not look , very hard to forecast tlio results.

It appears as if our only championship will come back by the agency of King in the breast-stroke. Brico certainly has a good chance in tho 100 yds. if fit, but his performances lately havo not been good enough to win. It soems very much as if Champion,- of Auckland, who is swimming in his best form, will win everything'before hiih. There are distinct possibilities for. our polo team if ail of its members put up their best performances. Altogether, our chances are not as bright as thqy havo been in various other years.