NEW YEAR'S DAY SPORTS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 2, 2 January 1880, Page 2

NEW YEAR'S DAY SPORTS.

The annual sports, under the auspices of the Tradesmen's Athletic Club, were held yesterday, in the Botanical Reserve, and more beautiful weather for the occasion could not possibly have prevailed, the heat of the Bun being tempered by a most refreshing breeze. The attendance was very large, and what with those who were scattered about the hill in picturesque groups, and the crowd that pressed round the ropes when some interesting event was going on, the number present must have been considerably in excess of 2000. Evidence of this was afforded by the gatekeepers, who took £75 in entrance money, which represented 1500 adult's, children being admitted free. There was . one alteration we were pleased to notice in the programme, namely , that instead of money, trophies, some of them very handsome, were offered as prizes. These are likely to be much more valued than the few pounds that were usually given, and so soon spent, leaving nothing to show that the winner had excelled in these gatms which year by year, we are glad to find, are becoming more popular. There was, however, one direction in which the Committee erred, regarding the prizes. They were called silver, bnt were not silver, and anything like sham or. deception in connection with games, the object of which is to encourage all that is manly in ,the competitors, cannot be too strongly deprecated. The event which caused fhe greatest nterest and excitement during the day was the "Tug of War," which will be found fully described elsewhere. As soon as those sons of Anak from the Waimea made their appearance on the ground it was pretty gencr ally admitted that about the only rival that could stand up against them with any chance of success was a moderately powerful steam engine, though some thought the Navals had the "knack" which would save them, but when

it came to the trial it was at once seen that they were utterly powerless against the heavy weight of the Brightwater giants. The Baby Show was a great success, and it would, 1 be difficult to beat the 70 dimpled cheeked, bright eyed, chubby faced, saucy little specimens of humanity, who, we verily believe, thoroughly understood the perplexity of Mesdames Challis, Horn and Robertson, who were appointed judges, and were mischievously laughing at them tlie whole time. But the task they had undertaken was no laughing matter, as was shown by the look of doubt that overshadowed their faces, the various trips across the booth just to have another look at one or two who seemed to possess peculiar claims to the prize, and above all with the prospect of having to meet on the ground after their decision was pronounced no less than sixty-seven mothers, each of whom considered her little offspring had been hard dealt with. However, the good ladies performed their duties admirably, aud their judgement will be found recorded in the prize list. The handicaps on the I whole were very fair, but in the mile race Hunter iv some way or another got to windward of the handicappers, who gave him 50 yards start, though from his performance, there was good reason to believe that he was as good as any one of bis opponents. The working members of the Committee spared themselves no trouble during the day, but there seemed to be a want of method and organisation that should be guarded against next year. Punctuality is what is wanted on these occasions to make them perfectly successful, and each event should come off at the advertised time, so that people may calculate with some degree of certainty upon seeing a race, or whatever it may be^ if they are present at the hour at which it is announced to take place. There would be some little difficulty in carrying this into practice, but it iB to be done, ;and on future occasions it would be well to let intending competitors thoroughly understand that unless they enter by a certain time, aud are on the ground ready to start at the hour and minute appointed, they will forfeit their chance It must be remembered that to make these sports successful they must be popular, and to make them so the convenience of the public must be studied. These suggestions are thrown out in no spirit of hostility to the Club, but rather with a view of inducing them to take such steps as will ensure the complete success of the undertaking which, with all its onerous duties, they so pluckily assumed on the collapse of the Caledonian Society. Many of the members of the Committee worked haid and assiduously thoughout the whole day and foremost among these we must mention the name of Mr Wix who satisfactorily performed the duties of judge of many of the events, in which a quick eye and a full knowledge of the game were essential to a fair and satisfactory decision. Mr Aydon, the acting Secretary, was perfectly at home at the work-he had undertaken, which he performed expedUiously and satisfactorily, and we must ask him to accept our special thanks for the courtesy he displayed towards the representatives of the press, and the readiness with which he afforded the information they required. It had been anuounced on the authority of the Club that there would be tight rope walking during the day, and we are requested to'state, in explanation of what may appear a breach of faith, that the reason it did not take place was that an accident occurred to the boy who was to have performed while fitting up the apparatus, one of the large pulleys having fallen on his foot and badly bruised it. At the close of the programme, the prizes were all arranged on the stands from which the Battalion Band had played some excellent music during the day, and were thence distributed to the successful competitors by His Worship the Mayor, the winning baby on being brought forward to receive his prize being greeted with several rounds of applause. The following is the PRIZE LIST. Maiden Race, 220 yards. Entrance 2s 6d. Ist prize, Silver Breakfast Cruet ; 2nd prize, Silver Card Basket.— Six entries. A well contested race was won by Connor, T. Smith being a good second. Youths' E ace, under 17,220 yaris. Handicap. Entrance 2s 6d. Ist prize, Silver Hunting Watch and Chain ; 2nd prize, Sugar Basin.— For this there were eight competitors who were handicapped as follows:— H. Hunter Brown scratch, Leithwood 3 yards, Saywell 7 yards, Allen, Adams, Bell, and Matthews 12 yards each. A very pretty race was won by Hunter Brown, Saywell second. New Year's Handicap, 100, 200, 300 yards. Entrance sa. Ist prize Silver Tea and Coffee Service, with £3 added ; 2nd prize Silver Salver. £ird ... 12 points T. Askew 11 points J. Askew 7 points The result of the three events which were ruu in the order given was as follows : Threes Hundred Yards : Bird, 10 yards start, 1 ; T. Askew scratch, 2 ; J. Askew, 5 yards, 3. The winner scored 5 points, the second man 3, and the third 2. This was a capital race, T. Askew collaring Bird after running about; 200 yards, but having to succumb to him eventually. One Hundred Yards : T. Askew, scratch, 1 ; J. Askew, 2 yards, 2 ; Bird, 5 yards, 3. Tovey, (2 yards), Haldane (3 yards), Barker (7 yards), and Taylor (8 yards) also ran, but none of them could touch T. Askew at the short distance. Two Hundred Yakds : Bird, 6 yards, I • T. Askew, scratch 2 ; J. Askew, 3 yards, 3' This was a remarkably well c:ntes:ed race throughout. The judgment of the handicappers proved to be excellent, as at the close of the three events there was but one point between the winner and the second man. Fencing. Entrance 2s. Prize, Silver Toast Rack. For this F. N. Jones and Oxley the former having been a pupil of the latter' were the only two competitors, the result being that Jones won by 7 points to his opponent's four. . Hurdle Race, 440 yards. Handicap Entrance 3a. Ist prize Silver Liqueur Frame • 2nd prize Silver Hunting Watch and Chain — Connor 1, E. Arnold 2, Maxted 3. Connor went away with the lead, but was very shortly deprived of it by Arnold who retained it until the last hurdle but one when Connor again tackled him and pulled off the prize. Horizontal Bar. Entrance, 2s. Ist prize, silver egg frame; 2nd, gold pencil case. For this there were three competitors, H Hunter Brown, Maxted, and Jones. The performances of all were very creditable Hunter Brown being the neatest in his movements, and to him was awarded the first prize, Jones being second. Running High Jujip. Entrance, 2s 6 d. Ist prize, silver hunting watch and chain2nd, silver pencil case. E, Arnold, Curran,' and Maxted, entered for this, and the two , former tied at sft 4in, when they decided to ' toss for the first prize, which fell to Arnold 1 Singlestick Entrance, 2s. Prize, pair - silver flower stands. F. N. Jones and Taylor 1 were the only two competitors, the former < winning by 7 points to two. ' Tug of War, between teams of six men < Entrance, 6a. Open to all Artillery, Rifle, 1 and Naval Volunteers, Fire Brigades and £ Salvage Corps, Cricketing, Boating, and Football Clubs Each man of the winning c team to receive a handsome silver cruet, ag- 1 gregate value, £12; 2nd team, £3. There * were five entries, and the teams were told off " as follows:— Artillery v. City Rifles; Bright- I water Cricket Club v. Wakapuaka Cricket * Club; the Navals to compete against one of 1 - ' ,m?mm

the winning teams. The first contest was won without very much difficulty by the Artillery. In the second the Brightwater team, who were men of both weight and muscle, were far too strong for the representatives of Wakapuaka. The Navals then tackled the Artillery, and for a minute at least the handkerchief which marked the" centre of the rope was first an inch or two on one aide and then about the same on the ' other side of the chalk line, but victory ultimately declared itself- in favor of the Navals, who were then called upon to face those big fellows from the Waimea. Over this there was great excitement, for the Navals had never yet been beaten, but it was clear that they were to be opposed to a more formidable foe than they had ever yet met. A tremendous pull ensued, and the cheers of the partisans of each side' grew very loud, until at last the cry went up " Waimea wins," and so it was, and the Aurora had to strike her flag to Brightwater. Water Race, in costume. Entrauce, Is. let prize, bag of flour; 2nd, box of soap. Harris 1, Richards 2. Three entries. Vaulting with Pole. Entrance, ss. Ist prize, silver cup; 2nd, silver watch and chain. This was a very pretty exhibition of graceful leaping, E. Arnold winning with 9ft 4in, Bird 2, G. Arnold, 3. Old Men's Race, over 50 years. Ist prize, pair of silver candlesticks, 2nd prize, handsome walking stick.— Orton 1, Chapman 2, Burn (retired). For an elderly gentleman, it is clear that Orton, who is one of the bandsmen, owns a very good pair of bellows, having a sufficient supply of wind to enable him to carry off this prize after having been blowing into a big brass instrument for four hours previously. Baby Show. Entrance, nil. Ist prize, silver tea and coffee service 5 "second prize, silver teapot ; 3rd prize, new trimmed hat for the baby. — For this there were 70 entries, and the prizes were awarded as follows :— Mrs A. J. Hamilton's boy, 13 months 1Mrs P. Best's girl, II months, 2 ; Mra A. Sowraan's boy, 14 months, 3. Walking Race, for youths under 17. Handicap. Entrance 2s. Ist prize, silver hunting watch and Jihain j 2nd prize a cricket bat.— Thro c^TOfietitors entered J, Guy coming in firab^^^Mgacombe second aad T._ Lipscomhj^^^^^^^he latter Silver Cup, with £5 added. 2'^^l^^^f^ Watch and Chain, with £1 added ; ;~||||||||i 50 yards start 1 ; Harvey, scratcj^|lli| Satherley, 3 ; Akersten (retired.) AkersHHli took the lead and kept it until the sth lap,* when he was collared by Harvey, and in the 6th lap retired. Then ensued a capital race between Harvey and Hunter, the former being decidedly the favorite, as he appeared to be running much morj strongly than the other, but in the last half lap Hunter, who had been running with great judgment, put on a very pretty spurt, and won by several yards amid great applause. Boys' Race; 220 yards. Ball 1, Woodward 2. Great Handicap; 150 yards. Entrance, 3s. Prize, silver cup. J. Askew, 6 yards start, 1, T. Askew, scratch, 2; Cator, 16 yards, 3. At about 70 yards from the goal the Askews shot past Cator, and J. Askew won a well contested race, beating his brother by a very short distance Egg and Basket Race. Entrance, 3s. Ist prize, silver hunting watch with £1 10s added; 2nd, £2. F. Smith 1, J. Guy 2. Five entries Consolation Handicap; 250 yards. Ist prize, silver trophy; 2nd, £1. T. Askew, scratch, 1; Akersten, 6 yards, 2. These were the only two entries. Silver Medal, presented by Mr Hunter to the one who scored the greatest number of points during the day. This was won by F. N Jones with 15 points, E. Arnold being next with 13. Drawing the BADGER.—This was the last event, but as it appeared to be a game more fitted for a Parihaka meeting of savages than for a festive gathering of civilised beings we did not trouble to ascertain the name of the winner.