THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1908. A BRILLIANT VICTORY.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 3071, 16 December 1908, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1908. A BRILLIANT VICTORY.

The result of the sculling match, held at Wanganui yesterday, to decide the championship of the world in regard to the sport mentioned, came, no doubt, as a great surprise to very many people, and though Webb will have plenty of sympathisers with him in his defeat, at the same time tbe brilliant victory of Arnst must be regarded as being eminently satisfactory from the sportman's point of view. Wanganui was proud of Webb, in fact, the whole Dominion was, but a greater than he hath risen ! It was a case of "Greek meeting Greek," for both scullers are New Zealanders, and it is satisfactory to know that the world's sculling championship will yet be retained in New Zealand. Webb does not at any time seem to have been generally regarded as "a star of the first magnitude" by judges more or less

competent to express an opinion, and there were those, who, with memories of Arnst's brilliant performances on the cycling track, were enthusiastic regarding the capacity of the now world's champion. Their high hopes have been fulfilled—Arnst has completely surpassed the expectation of his most optimistic supporters. He outclassed Webb, as the phrase goes, and herein lies the really satisfactory feature of the contest, for it means that Arnst, the New Zealander, will prove an exceptionally hard man to , beat at the hands of any sculler in the world. In Arnst the Dominion has a doughty champion indeed! "Woe to the vanquished" —that is the rule of the game, and , though we can sympathise with Webb in his natural disappointment, nevertheless we can heartily congratulate Arnst with a feeling of sincere pleasure upon tile result of yesterday's match. It is rather amusing to read in a telegram, published in this morning's isssue, that "Webb's supporters are sad to-night"—we would suggest that they could very fittingly assuage their grief in a cheerful contemplation of Arnst's brilliant victory, and by realising in it that New Zealand has produced a sculler who stands foremost in the very front rank of the world's oarsmen.