AUCKLAND SPECIAL.

Gisborne Times, Volume VI, Issue 231, 8 October 1901, Page 2

AUCKLAND SPECIAL.

A VICTORIA CROSS WINNER. (Special to Times.) Auckland, last niglit. Farrier-Major Hardliam, of New Zealand. the Victoria Cross winner mentioned j in the cables to-day, was a member of the j Fourth Contingent Rough Riders. He is j a blacksmith hv trade, and belongs to ; Wellington. PERSONAL. Sergeant O'Grady, •• father ” of the New Zealand Police, who joined in 1861, is to retire on a pension of .LT2O 9s. AMERICA CUP. To-day's leader of the Herald deals at length with the contest for the America Cup. It continues : •• The Columbia has beaten us. She has won fairly and i squarely according to the rules and con- ! ditions under which the great international j Cup race is held, and which tho Shamrock j was built to sail under. No Britisher j would wish to question the sailing powers of our American kinsfolk or to cavil at the j accepted conditions of the match, which j was desperately fought out and distinctly won by the fastest boat. But we must not forgot that the Shamrock was built to j cross the stormy Atlantic Ocean, it i being one of the Cup conditions that I the challenger must sail over. The do- | tails of the race indicate clearly how this j condition accentuated the steadiness of the English boat as against the skimming- I ness of the other. Sir Thomas Lipten lias j expressed the opinion that if the Sham- I ruck could not bring the Cup home no ! English boat could be built to meet the ; Cup conditions and to win. She is bv the l most famous of yacht designers, built regardless of cost, manned by picked men. and sailed by a born captain, ami we may ■ be sure that very considerable storuii risks were silently taken w lien she left I Southampton waters for Sandy Hook. The result of the race shows that the vessel, which had to be built for ocean sailing, is just so much handicapped against a boat built solely with an eye to speed. The Shamrock's designer took whatever advantage it was possible to gain from the superior steadiness, lie was compelled to load her with metal, and the results were fatal. The Americans are not our superiors at sailing, but they arc so nearly our equals, as they ought to be, being the same people, that we cannot overcomo the ocean-crossing handicap. This D how the ease actually stands, and we are much afraid that it will not be easy to got another enthusiast to champion the yachtsmen of Britain in tho seemingly hopeless attempt to capture tho America Cup.” ____________