Fifty Years of Progress 1880-1930

FIFTY YEARS OF PROGRESS doing their best to put down. The Chairman (Mr. Montague Shearman) said the proposal appeared to him to be an interference with the liberty of Clubs when promoting friendly competitions, though he could understand such a proposal applying to Championship meetings. He added, amid laughter, that he believed the L.A.C. would be unable, under such circum– stances, to get a team together. If the L.A.C. wanted to include one of their members who happened to join the S.L.H. first they would be unable to do so. The proposal was defeated, though in later years it was, within certain limits, adopted. A proposal that time standards should be fixed for all handicaps was strongly opposed by the handicappers and others in the South. Mr. C. G. Wood, a Norfolk sportsman, who established records at I 50, 220 and 300 yards in the eighties, opposed the proposal with great emphasis, and it was defeated by twenty-eight votes to eighteen. Mr. T. M. Abraham ( Iorthern Counties) and Mr. H. A. Butler (Midland Counties) in turn demanded a poll, whereupon a delegate remarked, "It is ungentlemanly to demand a poll ! " The Chairman said he had the strongest feeling against these meetings demanding polls ; he was not going to encourage them, but if a poll had been demanded and insisted upon, he could not help it. On a poll, sixty-six supported the proposal and forty-nine were against it. The Chairman said he was bound to declare the proposal carried, whereupon there was a great demonstration of dissatisfaction. After a debate, reported at great length in the Press, a proposal that handicappers should not sit on the General Committee or District Com– mittees, was defeated by twenty-nine votes to twenty-four. Mr. Val Hunter (L.A.C.) demanded a poll, which resulted in seventy-six votes in favour of the proposition and thirty-nine against. The Sub-Committee appointed to consider the revision of the voting power reported that they were unable to suggest any alteration, and it was decided that nothing further could be done. Some interesting decisions were recorded in 1908. The General Committee ruled that it was in order to pay a Secretary of an Athletic Club for his services, and that it would not necessarily interfere with his amateur status, and they also decided that a Referee or Judge was not entitled to accept his expenses for officiating at any meeting. It was decided that it was not permissible in Inter-Club contests for a Club to pay the expenses of a visiting Club. The completion of the Trust Deed was reported, though the legal charges would have startled the advocates of economy in the early days. It was decided to make a protest to the British Olympic Council about displays of fireworks at the Stadium during the period of the Olympic Games. Up to that time the displays of" fireworks" had been limited to the Annual General Meetings. The National Cyclists' Union complained that members of their General Committee were refused admittance to the enclosure at an athletic meeting under A.A.A. Laws where cycle races were held. The Hon. Secretary was instructed to reply that the Association could not 47