Cricket 1897

50 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. A p r i l 8, 1897. see what right he has to chaDge all arrangements at last moment and. cut you out. But perhaps you know more about it than 1 do. I shall be much disappointed not to go. ,R . B e h e n s . “ On hearing this, I immediately tele­ graphed to His Lordship, asking him whether or not he had received my letter. By the next mail 1 received the following note from him :— ‘ Grand Hotel, Scarborough, Aug. 28th, 1896. Dear Priestley,—India is off. 1 will accept West Indian invitation, and shall get a wire sent to them to-day to that effect. I hope I shall see you shortly in town, and have a chat over the tour. 1 hear a W. Wright, a leader of cricket in the West Indies is over here, and I hope 1 shall be able to see him before lie returns. As nearly all Indian team want to go, I shall have no difficulty in getting a team. In haste.—Yours very truly, H a w k k .’ “ On the day I received this letter I saw a notice in the ‘ Sportsman,’ saying Lord Hawke had abandoned his India tour and was going to the West Indies. 1 replied to Lord Hawke as follows:— ‘ Devonshire Club, Eastbourne, ‘ August 31st, 1896. ‘ Dear Lord Hawke, —As I am anxious to avoid any misconceptions, with respect to approaching visit ol a second English cricket ,team to the West Indies, I must trouble you to be good enough to eluci­ date some points affecting the constitution of that team. You state in your letter ‘ 1as nearly all the India team want to go, 1 shall have no difficulty in getting a team.” Am I right in assuming this to mean it is your intention to form a team from which those to whom 1 have already promised places shall ba excluded ? May I remind you that m my previous letter to you, 1 indicated that in pursuance of my agreement with the West Indian cricket authorities, J. had already secured four players for the team, and nad also extended invitation to four other players who have since ex­ pressed a desire to go. You will thus see my obligation to the West Indian people, and to the players is in the nature of a contract, which it would be manifestly dishonourable to violate, you will remem­ ber 1 further said in my letter to you, 1 was perfectly willing to resign the cap­ taincy of the team into your hands, on the lines, of course, of amalgamation and* co-operation; which are the lines, I am assured, the West Indian people approve of and desire,—Yours truly, ‘ A r t h u r P r ie s t l e y .’ On September 2nd I received a telegram from Lord Hawke, asking me to wire nim the names of my men. I wrote back giving him the names of two or three members of the former team and telling him 1 would supply him with the others when 1 saw him.” “ His next communication dated Sep­ tember 9th asked me to meet him at nis rooms in London on the 14th. This 1 did. His Lordship’s first remark to me was, that he did not desire to talk over the matter with me; that he preferred I should see Dr. Anderson. “ I replied,” went on Mr. Priestley, “ that I had come to London at His Lordship’s invitation, and that I must refuse to allow any third party to interfere. Lord Hawke then said he did not like the high-handed tone of my letter (referring to the one I had sent him on March 31st). I replied I did not think it was advisable to conduct conversation on those lines, and that if this was a matter which, as I hoped, might be settled amicably, we, as two men of the world, could sit down and discuss it quietly. I then explained clearly and without reserve all that I had done. Lord Hawke suggested I should write to the members of the former team who had decided to accom­ pany me, informing them that other arrangements had been made which pre­ cluded their inclusion in the team. I told him, ‘ 1If they don’t go it will be impossible for me to go.” His response to this was that “ if he were captain he should choose his own team, and he was not prepared to amalgamate with me.” “ On my return to Eastbourne, I des­ patched to Lord Hawke a letter to indicate as clearly as I could my position, recognising reluctantly, the futility of further discussion on the matter. 1 told him I had no option but to prosecute to their completion the arrangements I had begun some months ago, and in doing so that I felt I was acting in harmony with the requirements of tlie situation, and with the hearty countenance and support of the cricket authorities in the West Indies. “ That,” said Mr. Priestley, “ was the last communication I had with Lord Hawke.” “ I then cabled to the West Indies Lord Hawke’s refusal to amalgamate with me, and forwarded a copy of the correspondence 1 had had with His Lord­ ship to the West Indies Clubs, and left it for the West Indies to decide whether they should abide by their original acceptance of my offer or not. On October 14, I received from Trinidad a letter saying that, of couise, they abided by their original invitation or acceptance of my offer. Barbados did the same. Jamaica, who was playing at Demerara on the receipt of my communication, sent, in conjunction with the Georgetown Cricket Club, of Demerara, a cable, 1Our agreement with you stands.’ Thus, all four clubs confirmed their correspondence. How, so far as Barbados, Trinidad, and Jamaica are concerned, I have nothing more to say. So far as this tour has gone, they have in every way endeavoured to make our visit a most enjoyable one. But with respect to Demerara, it is necessary for me to say a word. The day of their cable to \ne was September 14, 1896. Just a month later, I received from them a cable, ‘ Esteem it great favour give way Hawke.’ I wrote to the Georgetown Club, naturally complying with their request. Of Demerara X shall say nothing more, except remark that a little later a notice appeared in the “ Sportsman ” dated Georgetown Deme­ rara, to the effect that an offer from Lord Hawke to take out a team this winter had been accepted; a similar offer from Mr. Arthur Priestley had been declined. I shall leave it to the Georgetown Cricket Club to reconcile that statement with their correspondence with me. HISTORY OP THE TOUR. ‘ ‘ I then went on with my arrangements and with the co-operation of one or two prominent cricketers, I was able to get what I think may be generally considered a very fair and representative team of English amateurs.” “ Now I want to deal with the inter­ view which appeared in Cricket. I may say that if this interview had been pub­ lished before I left England, I should have had an opportunity of replying to it, but as it was not published until 1 had left England, I have no alternative but to answer it in your paper or wait till I arrive back in England. The reported interview contains one or two statements which I cannot allow to be strictly accu­ rate ; for instance, one of His Lordship’s remarks is this: “ At every meeting or public function, while the first team was in the West Indies, Lucas, in responding to the toast of his health, expressed a hope that I should visit the West Indies in 1897.” In connection with that state­ ment, I wish to say I was one of the team on that occasion, and do not rememberhavingheardMr. Lucas publicly make such a statement. And furthermore if it was ‘ always his intention ’ to visit the West Indies in 1897, what was the meaning of his making those preparations for the tour in India, which tour he did not abandon until August, 1896, as veri­ fied in his letter to me, to use his own exact words, ‘ I may tell you it is more than probable I shall go to India.’ How are we to reconcile this statement with that one in the interview, ‘ It was always my intention to do so (visit the West Indies in 1897).’ I notice further, that Lord Hawke says he received a very cordial invitation from Barbados, Jamaica Demerara and Trinidad.’ I wish to say, that as far as Barbados is concerned, he has never received any invitation whatever beyond that invitation depending upon amalgamation with me. I have the authority of the Secretary of the Barbados Cricket (Jlub for making this statement, and not until Lord Hawke wrote just previous to his leaving England askmg them to play a match with him, had they any idea of seeing Lord Hawke’s team in Barbados. So far as Trinidad is concerned, they wrote telling him that they had already previously accepted an offer from me, but that they were prepared to give him a week; having in the meantime kept their three weeks’ engagement with me during the celebration of the Cen­ tenary. So far as the invitation from Jamaica is concerned, I can’t say any­ thing except remark that Lord Hawke is not going there; and with respect to Demerara, after the perusal of the fore­ going correspondence it will not be neces­ sary for me to say anything at all. Lord Hawke further says “ they (the West Indian clubs) told me they had only by