PAID GENTLEMEN.

Inangahua Times, Volume 93, Issue 93, 16 September 1878, Page 2

PAID GENTLEMEN.

(From tho World.) At tbo first glance thoro is little to con*neet the Australian cricketers now in Euoland with any dispute ns to wlmt does or does not consiiluto nn nmnfeur. They c-ime hero to niny crioket— all but fhreo of tbem claiming to bo by birth and position centlcmcn — openly md nvowodlr trusting to poy exnonscsof travel and Pving by exhibiting their powers, nnd not thinking it derogatory to pocket any chnneo profit that mifiht accrue, Thoir opponents, whatever social distinctions may exist among thorn, thoy only know as belonging to two dosses— thoso who roocivo money for exhibiting thoir skill, and thoso who .ploy ns gentlemen, Tljoy now loko strone iohjeotiod tb the .bills (by ejcpferi.es of some of tho prominont crickotois who took port in tho match, Gontlemen of Encland v. Australians. Probubly, bnt for Iho fact thnt tho Gloucestershire enptnin. and fho Secretary to tho Austrnlinn Eleven both claimed tho servioo io-" Midwinter, nothing would havo been heard of this, Tho forms of somo of our professional amateurs aro well-known, and £00 for four gentlemen's oxpensos for two days might not, consider*. ing thoonormonß sum realised by tho pars ticular contest, hnvo boen thought oxorbi-. tant. Indignant at tho sharp practico of nt least ono who has sent in hi* bill, the Australians now arguo that if tho lour players in question want n feo for playing thoy nro in roality nothing but professional.**, nnd ought not to hnvo boon engaged in tho match for which thoy make l heir ohim. It is not wholly without reason that they declino to sco tho diffbrenco bctweon givin-t a'iplnyor ' bis four, six, or ton pounds, nud allowing a ' gentleman ' n fancy amount for expenses, or doclino to ho persuaded that seven pounds ten poddy cun ho leizitimololy expended in railway fares, cubs, and hotol bills. In refusing anything beyond expenses out of pockot tho Anstrnlinns nro right, nnd those who claim moro ought not to havo bnd a plade'm an clovon supposed to consist entirely of unpaid and gentlemen crioketcrs. It is not only in cricket that this System has' grown up of making backItundod payments— for that is What nlbw*--ing oxponscs ronlly moans --to gentlemen who, by virtue of thoir position nro supposed to bo nbovo boing hirod. At horso shows nnd tho liko, noblemen and gontlemen of position, acting as judges, do not scruplo to mnko a charge disguisod by tho namo of oxppnpqs. Paid gontlemen exist only becanao a fcqling of fnlso shamo doters them from oponly nnd honestly joining the ranks of professionals. Among thoso who play with the gqutlcinen aud scok pay with tho players aro some to to wbocfi t*qonoy is of no object j theso

hive not Iho somblanco of excuse Others, wbo choose to mnko a l-uduoss of a pas** lime, and find that they cannot afford to devote themselves to it, ought boldly to look tho situation in tho lace; unless crioket lo made |a mi-ons of gaming honournbly nlivolihood, it is, liko all othor games, a luxury. i