MISCELLANEOUS.

Waikato Times, Volume VIII, Issue 422, 30 January 1875, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS.

[ The editor of a resppelnble sporting paper (says Iron), wnB lately' asked ibe follow i% qiipftum : " Art* working colliers ewtitled to, cp,mpel,e I 'at. a regalia, the races of which are advertised as jgpen ' io gpntlen.en amateurs?" The editor returned anunfavofable nnswer. It would require, he considered, r.n extiemely elastic; construction of. the term " gentlemen amateurs" lo include a &&sing coMrer j and he thought the stories of attempts at soeiaijjDse\ ation by 'drinking Champagne and rrding first-class might have influenced thejocal secretary who accepted their, eHtry. He added, "The spirit ot the distinction between amateurs and professionals ii (she mutter of daily manual labor, which, either on the wa'tor or land, gives ar undue advantage in muscles over those whose work is not, so. The laborer and artisan would, th<?re%e,.be ineligible." The spirit of the distinction in question we should be inclined to look for rather in the special training and abundant practice of the professional. Another querist complains that an amateur crew won a race open to " gentlemen amateurs," and weie held to be disqualified on the ground that it was composed of "artisans " There would perhaps have been no oKjec- v , tion in either ease, had the amateur^ been shopmen or j I clerks, many of whom ac physically more active and poweiful than certain classes of artisans, and really in the p.une Boeial grade — servants of the trader or manufacturer. There is no ter-m in toe language wove' abused than the '•*grand dTd name of gentleman." Originally and properly j, aonhcable only to men of family, it has been extended as a. ■ le|!il description to all prrsons living m a respectable sray{ on t theip mean sy and socnjjjy to all living by occupations - not of a menial character, %hich of course excludes every*-' body engaged in 'trade, whethei as principals or aervants, wlnle it has been decided by the Judges that the tefm^ not a sulhVieut legal des< nption tor a Q-overnmeqt c'era. Xt bids (air, however, by the conimuance ot the process of levelluiii-up, to include everybody by-ard-byo; and we shall then bec-mie what G-eorge IV. lookiW^ at tliVm^rbm a sartori.il s'^ndpoint, declared the SeoLch to be — a "nation of gentlemen."