A good work accomplished in 1891 was the securing of official recognition of swimming as a subject of instruction in the elementary Board schools of England. For many years the Southern Association agitated for this, and after several deputations to the London School Board, the Education De partment of the Privy Council agreed to recognise swimming as a subject under their code, whereupon the Association offered to place at the disposal of the London School Board the services of nearly one hundred honorary instructors, who, with the love of their pastime at heart, were willing to under take the teaching of swimming to the young.
A New Zealand Amateur Swimming Association was formed in 1890 by Mr. R. St. Clair, of Auckland, on lines almost exactly similar to those of the English association, and it appears to be a very healthy and well managed body. This presently led to the formation of an association in New South Wales. The New Zealand body is endeavouring to bring about the provision by education boards for organised instruction in swimming, to classify swimmers uniformly, to induce the State to issue certi ficates of proficiency, to promote a more general acquaintance with the steps taken to restore animation and effect rescues, and to that end to give greater encouragement to long-distance events and life-saving competitions.
The A.S.A. has an enormous amount of work to perform. It has now nearly six hundred clubs affiliated to its district bodies, and from one end of the year to the other its honorary officers are ever busy. A deep debt of gratitude is due by swimmers to Mr. E. J. Tackley, of the Holloway Club, who acted as honorary secretary to the association from i866 to 1893, and also to Mr. George Pragnell, hon. sec. from 5893 until 1902, for their unwearying efforts in its best interests. Very little
support was accorded by the Press to swimming, and most of the work had to be done personally by the representatives of the association, who, unaided by the light of publicity, had to fight questions in remote parts under a cloud of mis representation and distrust. Very great improvement in this respect has been noticeable during the last two or three years, and now scarcely a single club gala passes unnoticed by the sporting press, with the result that abuses can be more easily checked, and breaches of the A.S.A. laws stopped. The asso ciation is thoroughly representative. It is a body of amateur swimmers, elected by amateur swimmers, and only legislating on behalf of its constituents. It protects their interests, com pels unscrupulous promoters or clubs to pay the full value as advertised for their prizes, and to carry out their meetings in strict accordance with its regulations. Through its agency the tone of the sport has vastly improved, and instead of, as in the A.A.A., the last state of the amateur becoming worse than the first, the class and character of competitors are becoming better every day. Twenty years ago at an amateur meeting it was necessary to get a friend to take charge of your clothes before you went out on the board. Prizes, when won, were often not forthcoming, and any paltry excuse for withholding them was deemed quite sufficient by the promoters. The A.S.A. cannot even now sort out the black sheep, but it can insist on the observance of order at meetings held under its laws, and gain for the decent amateur a certain amount of respect from fellow-sportsmen. The A.S.A. when it gained the support of the University clubs put the finishing touch to a capital organisation ; and that it may remain in its present position is the wish of all its supporters.