The Daily News. SATURDAY, AUGUST 20. WHY ARNST WON.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 113, 20 August 1910, Page 4

The Daily News. SATURDAY, AUGUST 20. WHY ARNST WON.

Everyone who goes deeper than the I average " sporting" man, felt certain I that Arnst would retain the championship of the sculling world. Richard Arnst is the product of a free country, whose people live much in the open air. Arnst has bulk, great muscular power, i | and a stupendous determination. He ' has a greater determination than John- ! ! son, the negro fighter, or Jeffries, the 1 I man Johnson beat. He is not troubled ' | with what the world calls " nerves," .He really believes that lie is the finest sporting product of this or any other country, and no sense of modesty would I ever induce him to> admit anything else. He is young andi optimistic, and sound in wind and limb, and although London might produce an isolated sample of physical fitness', capable of meeting this young New Zealander, the conditions are all against it. Arnst, apart from the tremendous physical strain he has imposed on himself since the age of eighteen years, is a natural product —an open-air person, an almost primal man, whose dominating idea is to succeed physically. He frankly admitted, when he beat the more popular Webb, and won the sculling championship, that he intended to make all the money there ■was to be made in following; out his profession of physical struggle.: INO loyal New Zealander could for a moment believe that Barry, an 'Englishman, could •beat Arnst, a New Zealander, not so much because of Arnst's wonderful physical capacity and grit, but because he is one of us. Ankl the national prido in the physical prowess of the minority we admire, is an excellent stimulus, for physical prowess can only be achieved by sound beings, and sound beings are the real basis of the prosperity of all countries. It can be proved, that the dominating factors in the success of individuals is perfect health. A chronic dyspeptic could not win the sculling championship, or the heavy-weight fighting contest, or even lay the foundation of a fortune. Almost invariably, great statesmen have been men of unusual physical capacity, who have, however, overtaxed it. Illustrating the point that physical fitness is the basis of success, we quote Gladstone, Bright, Napoleon, Roberts, Bismarck, Queen Victoria, Sir George Grey and Sedidon. There is, in fact, no end to the list. It is not souight, of course, to place a mere sculler in the same category as the immortals mentioned above, but it is desired to show -that a nation's strength is built on the physical fitness of its individual®. The history of a nation is not so much the history of its people as a j history of its personages. The number of leaders among any animals, either human or otherwise, is small. There is, for instance, at the moment no other persons in the soulling world besides Arnst and Barry. The negro Johnson is in the mind in a moment if the art of fist-fighting is mentioned. If we mention English politics, we do not see England. We insensibly call to mind Asquith, Balfour, Lloyd-George, John Burns and a few others. The rest do not matter for a broad view. If we , think of Germany, we musit think of the strange genius who is its emperor—but only because he is Emperor. No other name suggests itself now that Bismarck has passed. And it will for found, on examination, that in every phase of life progress is a fight, and. that the great fighters, are few. It will also be found that the continuous fighters, who leave their names on .the scroll' of fame, are those who have had great physical force on which to feed their brain®. The private lives of many of the world's greatest leaders—the immortals—must not be mentioned. The strong man has the strong man's sine, and generally the weakling is the loudest in his blame. A dominating idea is in the mind of every normal man that physical prowess is to be worshipped. No normal man can help admiring such prowess. It is as natural to him as barking is to a dog, or sleep to a tired child, and he has been given the instinct to admire brawn and what it can accomplish, because he has also been given the instinct to protect himself. It is only necessary to mentioned the old time Maori and his methods, to prove the truth of the brawn and brain ' theory. The wiry natives who welre full of "ginger" and pluck (especially under a genius like old Te (Rauparaha), travelled long distances and got physically fit before they wiped out the tribes that were "soft" with loafing and camping. We will "make bold" to say that while Andrew Carnegie, or Thomas Lipton, or any other great business man was laying the foundation of a fortune that headaches and bad livers and "that faint all gone sensation" never entered into the lives of any of them. Arnst won because he was "well born" in the best sense of the wordi (and not its ridiculous "blue-blood" allusion), because he is physically strong, because he is healthy, because he could conceive no possibility of losing. If we want to produce champion scullers, champion business men, champion professional men, even champion politicians, we moist realise that the basis of success in any of the callings is physical strength and sound health. And everybody knows that ithe essentials to health are, after being well born, just the natural, cheap, but priceless medicines —sunshine, air, good food, water and work. If you want to leam how not to become a world's sculler misuse any of the medicines mentioned. I

TIIB DREDGiE. Ratepayers will read with, considerable satisfaction Mr. Marc'hant's report on the working of the new dredge Pari tutu. During the last few days Mr. Ma reliant has been giving the dredge a thorough testing, and, as a result, he reports: "The plant throughout is of the highest excellence, and I have never ' seen her superior."

A more favorable report it would be impossible to have. It is all the more welcome in view of the alarming—and, as it proved, totally unwarranted—reports that have had currency recently anent the defectiveness of the machinery and its unsuita'bility for the work for which it is intended. It is true t'hat from the sand pumping gear the best results were not obtained, but by making some simple alterations and additions to the hopper arrangements, Mr. Marchant was able to completely remedy matters. The outlet arrangement on the suction pipes, he says, is working admirably. By its use it keeps the ground loose for easy removal by suction, and, in addition, breaks up large stones, which the pump is then able to lift. It appears that the dredge has to skip the veTy large boulders, which have to be blasted for removal. Some of the public, as well as one member of the Board, appeared to think that the breaking of these huge boulders was part of the duty of the dredge. A little reflection would have shown the absurdity of the idea. The dredge can do what it was made for, namely, penetrate and shift the hard conglomerate formation. We were told, at the time of the controversy over the short versus long "wharf, that it would 'be impossible to dredge insiore ajid remove the hard eonglomerate, and that to try to do so was madness. Mr. Marchant had no doubt at all about it at the time. We backed his judgment against the judgment of the amateur engineers and quidnuncs. The dredge has recently been working on this conglomerate, and Avithi what result? Mr. Marchant says:

'When dredging with the buckets in the boulder and conglomerate formation close inshore she does first-class work. It is of necessity somewhat slow, but we can- dredge and discharge somewhere about 600 tons daily ofj this very 'hard ground. . , . The plant should do more than we expected." j Mr. Marehant lias carried out what he undertook to do. His judgment has Leon completely vindicated. Indeed, the successful working of the dredge is a triumph for and a credit to the Board's consulting engineer, who richly deserves the thanks of the Board and ratepayers. The period of trial, of course, is not yet finished, but there can be little doubt, in the light of the engineer's report, as to its outcome. Mr. Marehant says it will be necessary, within the next , three months to lay out the harbor, by survey, into dredging sections, so that an exact record can be kept of the amount of work executed in each section, and a regular system of working adopted. This no doubt will be done, and work in real earnest "begun.