EASTER MONDAY SPORTS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5000, 3 April 1877, Page 3

EASTER MONDAY SPORTS.

The sports held on the Basin Reserve yesterday were under the auspices of the Wellington Amatenr Athletic Club, which promises to increase in strength and vigor, and be something more like a reality in the future than it has been in tbo past; The weather was beautifully fine—none better could be desired, being neither too warm nor too chilly. ■ During the morning, as usual, the attendance Was small, but at 12 o’clock it increased, and: during the-afternoon there were considerably over 30H0 people on the ground, his Excellency .the Governor .being present. He was "attended by Lord Hervey Phipps; George llunter, Esq., M.H.E., "also occupying a seat in the vice-regal box fn the grand stand; -' i i There were the usual amount of amusements provided by persona who take advantage of such occasions to turn an honest penny by Iceeping little ingenious contrivances for those of speculative tendency to invest their money iu, “quick returnsbeing for the most part doubtful. This class, however, did hot receive sp much patronage as usual, possibly owing to 'the fact that the sports were rather more interesting than usual, and absorbed the attention of those present. In connection' with this, it is only right that the committee should receive such public recognition . as- may be given them here of the admirable, manner in which they arranged,the programme of , events hud everything connected with-the sports; A .start was made up,to time, the band being punctual in attendance, and the consequence Was that, there was nothing tedious :in the performance, and the sports concluded,in decent time in the afternoon. The committee may therefore be congratulated, as iwe have before said, upon the efficiency of; their, work.: As will be seen by the description which follows, some of the events,. or we should rather say many of them, were very interestiug, being well contested, and shortly also, for it may be noticed that running in heats was avoided. ;; • - ,

j The various executive, officers were as follows Starter, Mr. W. Black; timekeeper, Mr. G. Fisher ; judges, Messrs. H. Mace and A. Young. The first event on the programme was the

Hop, Step, and Jump.—lst prize, silver pencil-case ; 2nd, set of razors—ln this event only four, Hickson, G. Campbell, C; Webb, and Charlton competed. No very wonderful performances were achieved, the longest distances covered being only 36ft, lOin. by Webb and 85ft. llin. by Hickson, , who took first and second prizes respectively. • Both these competitors have covered much longer distances on previous ■ occasions. The inferiority in this instance is attributed partly to the ground at the time being rather slippery. The second event was the

'■ Maiden Race, -440 .Yards.—lst prize, gold pencil-case ; 2nd, writing-desk—Withers, E. Webb, Campbell, and Kennedy competed in this race, which was a very good one, run in capital style and time. ■.A fine start was made, iud all kept well together until the last twenty yards, when Webb rushed ahead and won, very closely pressed,by Withers, who, Wok second prize, Time/G3sie6s. : ;T i Putting-.';Heavy Stone. pencil-case y-2nd,- tankard—Hickson, Major,; Campbell, l Ci Webb, and Withers competed for this event. The first prize fell to Withers, who put the atone 23ft. Gin.; Hickson taking second prize with 23ft. - _ 100 Yards, Champion, Race. gold' pencil-case ; : 2nd; tankard Donovan, Major/Archer, Or Webb, Chuiton, and Cooper were the competitors in this race. Several false starts were made, causing Donovan and Archer to be put back two yards, and Major and Webb one yard. The race was won by Donovan, closely followed by C. Webb, Archer being, a good third, with Major just on his heels. .

Singlestick—lst prize, £5 (given by Mr. Scott-Slddons) ; 2nd, silver pencil case.—This was’ohe'bf the most interesting events of the day, particularly because there was; something of novelty about it. The competitors were— Black, Carey, McOleland, Scott-Siddons, Passmore, Leonard, Nash, and Wright. Messrs. Huddleston and Maxwell were the judges, and it was resolved that the first five hits should be the number deciding the victory. The two first who entered were mon-of-wnr sailors—Nash and Wright—the latter being the victor, Nash only succeeding in hitting his opponent twice. The others then competed in turn, ancl ultimately the contest for the prizes was left between the two' best thus far, namely, Passmore and Siddons, the former making five points, whilst the other made three.

Hi*di Jump —l*' pri ze . a■tauki.rd ; 2nd, a ; Russia leather pocketbook—This event proved an easy affair f»*' J - Thompson, who cleared 4f Two Mile Waiking Match.—lst prize, a cup value £6; 2nd, a pair of gold alee e links— Fraser, Rickman, Zesch, and Mitchell started After several laps round, the crowd expressed disapproval at she performance of Mitchell, who seemed to interfere with the youngster Fraser and keep him from obtaining the inner running ; at anv rate, although there was no jostle, Mr Young disqualified him, and handed liim off tlie course., Fraser literally walked away from the other two, puitiug on as* lendid spurt towards the last. Me came in nist, of course; Rickman second. Time, 16min. 58.isecs. , • ■ , . ~ Champion Race, 440 Yards.—lst prize, gold ring; 2ud, tankard Major, Donovau, Churton, Cooper, and A cher started, A good stait was obtained, and the race proved very interesting. Cooper making splendid running, and coming in a good Ist; Donovan, 2nd ; Major, 3rd. One Mde Ho* dicap (open).—lst prize.a cup, value £7 10s.; 2nd, tankard—Moran, Hearn, aud Anderson started, Hearn gave out in the. second lap, ami the rate was therefore left to Moran, who won easily,' Anderson being nowhere. Time, smin. 2sec. 880 Yards Champion Race.—lst prize, set of studs aud links ;■ 2nd,- set of studs Entries, Major, Donovau, Archer, Cooper and E. Webb. Cooper, 1 ; Major, 2 ; Donovan, 8. Time, 2min. 27-JseiS. : ' Hurdle Race Handicap, 440 Yards (open).— Ist prize, g >ld ring Hearn, Churton, Hanceen, and Hickson started. This was the prettiest event on the programme, and one in which the spectators took a deal of interest. Hearn's - jumping was much admired,-and he had the rice a'l bis own way, coming in a good first, Hanceen taking second place, and Hickson third. , ; The next event on the programme was the Man-of-war’s Men’s Race, 440 yards, for a meerschaum pipe and 31bs. ' tobacco. '■ ’As blight have been expected this watf an'amusing 1 contest, the competitors seeming to disregard any known rule regulating the performances of pedestrians One ingenious member <lf the profession in order to make things easy for himself to' k a short cut across the ring, and consequently'came in first, but of course was disqualified. The winners were - Tycke, T; Grant, 2. One Mile Champion Race.—Archer, Cooper, and Churton were the only starters. Archer came in first; Cooper, second. ' ' Consolation Race, 150 \ ards (open), llirst prize, gold pin ; 2nd ‘ gold locket. Major, Webb, Churton,'and Hanceen stai ted. Webb took first place, Hanceen second, and Major third. • i There were a few scratch- races for boys got up on thegronwd. ' ! From the fo egoing description of the events, it will be seen that Cooper won the championship with fifteen points, Donovan being two points behind liim., ■ The sports were finished before 6.30 o’clock, the hour fixed upon for the last race, thus showing that the committee's calculations were fairly accurate,' and: that :no.-time,. was lost in getting off the.various events.' ■ An excellent: lunch was provided by the club, and was' laid.out-in the Caledonian Hotel, opposite . the ground. It may he..noticed that a gate has been placed:on that,side of the. ground. ■ . ; ■■’ ' • 1 ; • SOIREE, i In the evening a 'soiree was held in St. George’s Hall. A -good, band having been provided for the occasion, - and the attendance being numerous, a-most enjoyable evening was passed, dancing being kept .up till, a late hour.