HAWKE’S BAY CRICKETERS

Gisborne Times, Volume V, Issue 84, 17 April 1901, Page 2

HAWKE’S BAY CRICKETERS

PRESENTATION TO MR WILLIAMS. LIBERAL OFFER BY ENTHUSIASTS. (Special to Times.) Napier, last night. One of the most representative gatherings of cricketers held in Hawke’s Bay for some years was held by the Association to-day at the Masonic Hotel, for the purpose of bidding farewell and bon voyage to Mr E. 11. Williams, President of the Hawke’s Bay Cricket Association. The member for the district (Mr A. L. D. Fraser) occupied the chair, and in presenting Mr Williams with a purse of sovereigns, asked him to accept it as an infinitesmal memento of the appreciation of his (Mr Williams’) services in connection with the game in Hawke’s Bay. Mr Williams, in reply, said he very much appreciated the memento that had been given to him. He urged the appointment of a professional coach, and said he had left a letter by which he agreed to subscribe a substantial sum a year for three years towards the cost. If the Association sent him word while in England he would engage the most suitable man for Hawke’s Bay that it was possible to get. Mr Williams was also presented by several admirers with a beautiful Mosgiel rug. I understand that the subscription left by Mr E. H. Williams towards the fund for the payment of a professional coach for Hawke’s Bay cricketers is £2O per year for three years. At a meeting at the Masonic Hotel this morning, Mr Moeller said he would like to repeat an offer he had made some time ago, to the effect that if a professional coach were obtained by tho Hawke’s Bay Cricket Association he would give him free board and lodging at his hotel for twelve months.