The Wairarapa Daily. THURSDAY, MARCH 10, 1892. WHAT PRICE LEGS?

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XIII, Issue 4059, 10 March 1892, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. THURSDAY, MARCH 10, 1892. WHAT PRICE LEGS?

We were seriously disquieted by the information telegraphed from Wellington yesterday, that there is a bilcli about the Athletic Team, Batger and Hemptou object to the terms of the 1 agreement which members have to sign, and refuse to go unless it is altered," This seemed truly terribly If the effect in' London of the Premier's new taxation scheme has been to chastise us with whips, the refusal of our athletes to exhibit themselves

in England uiay certainly bo considered to be a chastisement with scorpions. The athlete's little fioger shall be thicker than the Premier's loins—metaphorically, of course—for we are nothing if not athletic. The colonial credit may be shaky in the q world's money-market, the policy of our rulers may be reprobated by intelligent persona everywhere, our rapid changes of principle may excite amusement, but we have always kept a firm hold ol our reputation on the cinder-track; we have worked our .way into the proud position of being regarded as the habitat of the running man. And the running man is more fortunate than (lie prophet-he is made much of in his own country. Merchants and Bank Managers bow down before him—they are eyer willing to forego the valuable services of his band 3 or his head, when it is a ~ question of patting his legs in ovis dence, Hundreds of his fellow-citi-zens—they would be thousands if the population could be found-are all a-gog to see him run; and life must be passing sweet to the amateur athlete in New Zealand. And now the amateur athlete is invited to produce himself for the benefit of the degenerate scions of an effete European civilization. Money flows in freely for the trip, his employers jump at the chance of winning d vicarious glory for. the mercantile house where lie condescends io hold a pen, Ministers of the Crown undertake that he shall be furnished with letters to the Agent-General— B are we to understand that this is an f introduction to the very highest ° society in the old land?—when sutU denly the hearts of the athletes' fellow colonists stand still at ibe tidings 1 that" chero is a hitch." , We suppose that the Committee of ! the Amateur Athletic Association ! kows more than the public about the J seamy aide of athleticism; we ! imagine that its members are not ' bound body and soul to the blind , worship of Legs. They seem to see ■ , some rocks ahead, and they have pro- 1 I duced a document of a business I character ior the future world's- 1 ' champions to sign before they go. | In a general way, of course, ' ' journalists know everything; but in this particular case we blush to say j that we were imperfectly informed, 1 We did not know the terms of this t business document, But we conjee- ' tured that its tenor might be to bind ' Messrs Batger and Hcmpton not to go j "pot-hunting" when they get to , England. A "pot-hunter" is the c classic name for a Running and a Jumping Gentleman who hurries from s place to place to win a trophy— ' pewter or silver-gilt or best electro- ? plate, We look it, then, that the jj Committee of our Amateur Athletic t Association would wish the New i Zealand representatives to limit t] themselves to athletic meetings of a f< certain class; that is to say they were d to attend strictly to business and not h dodgenbout the country after splendid | pots, If our conjecture had been e , [altogether correct, we should have yi peeked t,o urge that the Committee yi was uprise. Why should the free- tt dom of Messrs jiatger and Hew'pton be curtailed ip ihij. direction I

| should they, not be allowed to win all "liey can wherever they., can ? On the assumption that New Zealand depends more upon the exhibition of good 16g9 for its credit than upon consistent Management of its pecuniary affairs, it appears to us that the more our athletes are seen, and the more they can win, the higher will be tho opinion of this colony entertained by the British Public, whom p all dqsire to impress, We should have expressed die hope, therefore, that our friends, the recordbreakers, might lie granted a free hand. But we are better informed now, Wo learn that the, obnoxious regulations had reference chiefly to bedtime and tucker. Hapless Mr Herapton,. and brow-beaten- Mr Bntger I To be told to be in bed and tucked up by ten o'clock every niglit, to be lectured if they sent up a plate twice for pudding, or presumed to tako an 11 a.m. "nip" after the manner of good colonials! A growl might be forgiven them under circumstances of such hideous tyranny, Then, too, they were to obey the " boss" all through the trip - and what athlete's gorge would not rise at the prospect of owing, to say nothing of paying, obedience to any living soul? Nevertheless, Heaven be praised, these frightful snags have been safely negotiated, and the team ivill sail, If any' lingering doubt still existed, wo should prostrate ourselves before our athletes ; we should implore them, if they love us, not to refuse to make the trip. We can, indeed, imagine these gentlemen saying with sturdy independence, that they will be blanked if they will go; but what we want them to remember is that we shall all be blanked together if they won't go.