BURNS AND JOHNS ON.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9344, 13 January 1909, Page 8

BURNS AND JOHNS ON.

TO FIGHT AGAIN. The boxing editor of the Sydney Referee says :—I am in a position to state that everything is in order for another match between Burns and Johnson, and, if nothing occurs to affect arrangements already made, the contest will take place in London next August. Mr H. D. Mclntosh, who left by the Melbourne express last night to catch, at Adelaide, theR.M.S. India for England, had a long chat with Jack Johnson’s manager, Sam Fitzpatrick, on Saturday afternoon, and it is understood a definite agreement was arrived at. Possibly,the London Stadium, where .the recent Olympian Games were or tliat other lluge structure i&HHßLrnetropolis of the world — Oiliii«-will be rented in this 00 Tommy Burns is more to make the trip so that bejSSypatisfy himself as to whether Johnson is really the better man or not, and then he will come back to Sydney and settle down here. We will probably hear something further on the subject of the return match soon after Mr Mclntosh reaches London and gets his arrangements under way. JOHNSON INTERVIEWED. r A Sydney paper contains a laughable interview with Johnson, the coloured pugilist. Prior to his departure the champion expressed his views relative to the ethics of his profession. “Since I beat Burns,” he observed, “the people of New South Wales have suddenly taken a great dislike to me. Though he got a great walloping, Burns is more popular - .here than I am, and all because he does what you Australians call the ‘penitent smoqdge. ’ However, I never expected ,to find sympathy here, as my colour is against, me. When distressed by criticism of this sort I simply turn up one or twd of my favourite books—Shakepeare’s ‘Titus Andronious,’ Bunyan’s ‘Pilgrim’s Progress,’or Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost,’ and there I find plenty of consolation to sooth away any irritation. “You may be surprised that I should turn to literary work when annoyed instead of seeking sympathy from the church to Jwhich I belong. Of course, you know I am a Methodist, and our churoh’is regarded as second to none anywhere in America, or in the world. It is the world’s champion church. When I arrived here in Sydney first of all I expected to be well looked after by my fellow-religionists in Sydney. Well, do you believe it, not one of the Methodists called on me. At first I resented this very much, and I fretted a lot, so that my manager had fears lest I should go back in my training. However, a week or so convinced me that the Methodists over here are quite a different crowd to what I have been accustomed to, and I feel glad now that I had brains enough to find consolation in reading a few chapters of ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’ instead of publicly rebuking the sect to which I belong. Outside the conduct of the local Methodists in not inviting me to church, there is not a single one, so far as I can learn, signified his intention of witnessing the fight. “In America, whenever I had a ‘scrap’ I could always count on solid support from my denomination. However, I am not going to be nasty about Sydney’s people. The majority of you are.all right, but as lam a descendant of Ham I must bear your reproaches because I beat a white man. Could any Christian nation have extended a more inhospitable welcome to a victor in a great contest? When I won I fully expected to be feted. That was my due. However, you spurned me.” The Rev. W. G. Taylor, of the Sydney Central Mission, seen in reference to Johnson’s statements, said he had no idea thatyohnson was a member of the Methodist Church. He was not debarred from attendIng'ithe services of the church. In fact, he nelieved that Johnson, shortly after his arrival in Sydney, did put in an appearance once, and was seen engaged in earnest prayer. Asked if it was a fact that Johnson was not welcomed on arrival, Mr Taylor said, “Certainly not. How were we to know that he was a Methodist at all? Every Methodist when he leaves one place gets a letter which he presents at the next place he visits. Johnson did not present his credentials, and we took no more notice of him than of any other stranger, but did not draw the colour line at all. We have seen men of many colours in our church. ”