THE DAVIS CUP.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 168, 3 December 1912, Page 5

THE DAVIS CUP.

PRESS CRITICISM. TFTE VISITORS ENTERTAINED. > A SPORTSMANLIKE GATHERING. By Cable—Press Association—Copyright. Received 2, 8.5 p.m. Sydney, December Z. The Herald says that it would be absurd for the to deny that . the result of the Duvis Cup contest has been a keen disappointment to them. [ "We regret the loss for sentimental rea- [ sons," it says, "and for more practical reasons. Australia, for a time at least, has lost the right to expect a visit from the best players of Europe and America. No doubt tlie opinion of British experts should have warned us that our supremacy was in serious danger. The experience has taught us to be on our guard. We shpuld, perhaps, have anticipated the English haibit of refusing to recognise when they ought to be beaten, which has appeared more than once in the cricket world, and appears in tennis also." Describing the play, the Herald says that it was due to Parke's magnificent play alone that the cup was taken back to the British Isles. The Telegrauh declares that everything depended on Heath, and he was unequal to the task. He had the misfortune to strike a player at the top of magnificent form. The honors of tlr l contest unquestionably rest with Parke, who returns to his native land covered with glory. Melbourne. December 2. [ Lord Denhani and Lord Fuller were ; present at the Australian Tennis Associal tion's dinner to the teams, i Mr. Weigill, the president, offered con- ' gratulations to the Britishers. Parke, he said, had given Australia almost too much of himself. To remember that drive of his was remniseent of the scriptural hero, "the late Mister Jehu." No doubt the visit of the Britishers had provided the necessary funds to enable the Association to fit out an invading expedition in pursuit of the Cup. Mr. Dixon paid a tribute to the treatment that the team had received and the fine sporting spirit of the Australians. He said that Parke's victory absolutely won the Cup. It was hardly fair, he said, that the challenge round the • Cup should be held in the country of I the holders year after year. He sug- , gested tliat the contest should be held in different countries alternately. If that was impossible, let it be the conn- | try of the challenger, and not of the . holder. Such an arrangement would in- \ crease the interest. Mr. Low claimed that he had helped to \ win by standing down. Unless lie had done so the Britishers would not now be holders of the cup. , Mr. Parke, proposing the Australasian team, said that at Home it had always ■> been thought that so long as Brookes was playing it was useless sending a team to Australia. The Britishers had been horribly lucky through Brookes being defeated on an off day. For himself. he never played such a game in his life, and never hoped to play another like it. Mr. Brookes, replying, said that the loss of the cup was deeply felt, but the 'visitors deserved sincere congratulations for their splendid performance. Australasia had played its best team, and that team had done its best. The visitors were rcaily a British Isles team, and had it not been for good old Ireland the cup would still be safe in Australia's hands. He was only too willing to make one of a team to try and recover it. Mr. Dunlop said that the Australians were well beaten. The Britishers undoubtedly deserved their win. Mr. Heath, amid cries of dissent, regretted that he had not supported the captain as he should have done. Mr. Jones claimed that though he had not played he had done his best to pull the side through by barrackir".