LAWN TENNIS

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2876, 14 September 1916, Page 8

LAWN TENNIS

WELLINGTON ASSOCIATION. The annual report of the Wellington Provincial Lawn Tennis Association states that there aro now 32 clubs affiliated with tho association, having a total membership of 1608. Owing to the war the, past season has naturally boon a very quiet one from a playing point of view. All affiliated clubs are tooling tho pinch, and in many cases have great difficulty in carrying on owing to lack of members, and for this |'reason several clubs have temporarily ceased to exist. Tho memberships of the affiliated city clubs for the past season show a marked decrease on tho previous year's, figures. It is safe to state that tho memberships of the country clubs have also been reduced considerably, but as these clubs' subscriptions to' the association would not in most. cases be affected by the reductions, the committee has not received any notifications of such reductions. It was decided at the annual general meoting that no provincial championships be played during the past year, and this policy will no doubt continue during the war. The committee, howover, held during the year a handicap and championship tournament, in which an opportunity was given to all tennis players thou in camp to enter, but of which opportunity only a few were able to avail themsolvos. An experiment was made in holding tho tournament on various clubs' courts and play was confined to Saturday afternoons. Owing to the tournament being started rather late in the season- and having several wet Saturdays to, contend with, it was rather drawn out, but under tho circumstances tho committee considers the experiment proved a success. Owing to the continuance of the war and tho rapid depletion of the ranks of male tennis players, the activities of tho association will, generally speaking, have to be; considerably curtailed during tho coining season. There is one direction, however, in which the work of the association is not so much affected by the war, and -may be considerably extended, and that is in tho encouragement of tennis among school children. During tho past year an application for, affiliation was received from the Wellington Public Schools' Tennis Association, but unfortunately the rules of the association would not permit of its being accepted. ■To enable affiliation to be granted tho .committee suggest several alterations in tho rides, and jtroposals in this direction will be brought before'the annual meoting. The committee has, during tho past season, given every oncouragement to tho Public Schools Association and made a donation to its funds, besides giving prizes for competition at its annual tournament meeting. Tho affiliation of this sub-associa,tion should give tho game a groat impetus among the children, the benefit of which will be reaped by the association in the years to come. 'No inter-club or Country Cup matches, were played during the past year. The committee decided to hold a championship and handicap tournament for 6omo patriotic purpose during March and April. Tho tournament was played off on Saturday afternoons on the City clubs' courts. As a result, a sum of £7 16s. will be handed over to the Y.M.C.A. War Fund. Tho winners of the events accepted certificates in lieu of trophies. Tho following are the names of the winners:—Men's championship singles, H. A. Fyfo'; men's championship doubles, J. A. B. Howo and H. V. Howe; ladies' championship ■ singles, Miss C. Stevens; ladies' championship doubles, Miss Travers and Mrs. Earle; combined championship doubles, Miss 1. Stevens an dJ. A. B. Howe; men's handicap singles, T. Ward; men's ban-, dicap doubles, J. A. B. Howe and H. V. Howe; ladies' handicap singles, Miss Hunt; ladies' handicap doubles, Mrs. Breo and Mrs. Henderson; combined handicap doubles, Miss I. Stevens and J. A. B. Howe.

Considering the abnormal conditions prevailing during tho past year, the season has been financially a successful one, and the financial position of the association continues highly satisfactory. As foreshadowed in the. last report, there has been a considerable shrinkage in the membership of affiliated clubs and consequently subscriptions have fallen off. and during the coming year will undoubtedly show a still further decrease. The incoming committee will thus be faced with some difficulty in carrying on the work of the association, but; under existing conditions, this is, of course, unavoidable.

The-lion, secretaries of the affiliated clubs are asked to kindly forward before the date of the' annual meeting the names of all members' who have enlisted for the Expeditionary Forces. The N.Z. Lawn Tennis Association is now preparing a .Roll of Honour, and it is only with . the assistance of the hon. secretaries of clubs that the roll can .be completed. The committee, on behalf of the association, wishes to tender its sympathy with the relatives of those tennis plavers who have given their lives for their country.