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Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 62, 31 July 1912, Page 4

THE SCULLING RACE. The defeat of Arnst by the English, sculler Barry in the race for the sculling championship of tho world will come as a great disappointment to New Zealanders, who had grown to regard their champion as being quite as invincible in. his line as Johnson is in the ring. Of course, the race was hardly rowed before the usual complaint came-from all sides that it had not been a legitimate test, and that Arnst had sold the match for pecuniary reasons. He lias, of course, only himself to blame for this egregious insult, because its general acceptance is based on the fact that ho frankly announced upon one occasion that he was in'"the game" not solely for sport, but because it carried substantia] financial emoluments. We do not. however, for one moment believe that the ex-cham-pion is such a poor sportsman as to'have deliberately foregone the position of premier oarsman of the world for any such sordid purpose. There Is an old sporting adage that says "Never bet about anything that can talk"; but if this was generally accepted as being correct we might just as well sit down quietly'and write oil' all the amateur championships in the field of sport. Its acceptance would mean that we had no honest -golfers, or cricketers, or rifle' shots, or footabllers, and we might just ; as well count 'Sport" out either as a recreation or a profession. Arnst had everything to gain and nothing to lose by the retention of his title as champion, and we much prefer to believe that his defeat was due to a lack of condition and to : a preparation that was necessanly hurried owing to the intervention of ill-health. Judging by the brief cabled Report of the race, and the time it occupied, even in the face of bad weather, the day found Arnst far from his best, arid the result of this race cannot, in the meantime, be accepted as establishing fhe complete supremacy of Bam'. It is a far cry since the last sculling championship wa ,_ W on for England on the Thames, ami we are not at all disposed to regard the result of the present match as anything approaching a local sporting calamity; We like, of course, to sec our local champions prevail, and we havca very, proper pride in the athletic eminence, that our little Dominion has won in tho field of sport but we have grown just a little bit inclined to develop "swcllcd-liead" where our footballers mid our rowers and our cyclists are concerned. A set back of the sort, experienced on Monday on the Thames should prove a verv decided stimulant to further effort. * Our pet sculler hits been well and emphatically beaten at his own game, but we may rest assured that he will not be content to allow his laurels to remain long in other hands, ahd that ho will make an honorable and determined effort to regain his title at an early date. So far as Barry is concerned, honors with Arnst are now easy, and the decisive match, should it ever eventuate, will certainly provoke the most lively interest. With both contestants thoroughly fit, and with a fair held and no favour; such a contest ou»ht to be worth more'than a day's journey to witness. '