THE NOBLE ART.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 322, 13 January 1909, Page 3

THE NOBLE ART.

To the Editor. Sir, —It was with great pleasure that I read your article on the above; it is truly a sordid, degrading and brutal sport. Imagine two gladiators, in the pink of health and condition and as hard as the boards they are fighting oil, standing up -and hitting each other—and hitting as 'hard as tliey ean, too. Horrible! In that Burns Johnson contest recently what terrible punishment poor Burns must have received. He was at church the following morning, grid bore unmistakable signs of having gone through a terrible milling, inasmuch as hoth his eyes were slightly inflamed. iYou are right in saying that it attracts only men who have no other virtue than a big thump. There was no other virtue in those two top-notchers who at the time of the San Francisco disaster sold oranges in the streets to gather a few dollars to help the starving, who but a few days before were endeavouring to hound them out of the country. I woraler how many editors would do the same. And all the money earned ■by Burns (some hundreds of pounds) during his training for the big fight •went to sweet charity. Have all the editors in New Zealand put together given as much in their lifetime? But, then, there is no virtue in that, is there! What a great pity you didn't happen to think of it and bring it under the notice of Bill Squires when he visited your town some few weeks buck. However, it is rumoured that Burns 1« likely to pay lis a visit shortly, and that will give yon an opportunity Lo tell him and di il it out to him good and 'ard, Mr. EJitor. I would give a pound to-hear you (and much more to gee you after, if the jloctor would allow ■me). You say: '' Why docs not every vagrant become respectable and be a pin-headed prize-fighter ?" Don't you think these brainy- gents would be adapted for the editorial chair, as few of them have any respect for themselves and none for the public at large. Aft?r all, Mr. Editor, man is but a frail piece of fretwork or glass case. And, b conclusion, I beg of you to wield your Iniightv pen, and don't " toss the sponge" until yon have impressed upon (Parliament to pass an act whereby 110 snan be allowed to indulge in more fetrenuous pastimes than croquet and afternoon tea, or else become a pinheaded editor to deal out ridiculous Muff about a sport he does not understand, and which was meant for men enlv. —I am. Sc.. : . mi! PON<"! PLAYER.

["For men only." What docs the iping-pong votary mean? Does lie mean 'that only men (using the word in its full sense) indulge in prize-fighting, that the modest, chivalrous and sportsmanlike ebony gentleman and his equally retiring vis-a-vis are patterns ot (manhood we should seek to copy and loBow? And does lie mean that the exhibition of antiquated brutality In which these paragons figured—in which to white man -was pounded bv a black for the money that was in it—is sport If h* does his conception of manliness bnd "sport" differs materially from Burs.—Ed.]