Explanation.

Owing to various inquiries which have been made I have been instructed by the N.Z. University Tournament Committee to make the following statement with regard to the 1937 Haslam Shield Contest, the result of which was altered through the disqualification of E. Willoughby, one of the Otago men.

The rule is that no one may represent in more than five tournaments. Willoughby had actually fired in five Haslam matches before this year, but last year he had not been in the first eight whose scores are counted in the contest. For this reason the Otago Club did not consider that he was a member of the team for that year. This has always been the practice in Otago and the question which had to be decided was wether or not their interpretation was in accordance with the Tournament Rules. The possibility of ambiguity was considered by the Committee and an interpretation was obtained from Mr. E. C. Levvey, S.M., of Christchurch, the latter holding that the word "team" must be interpreted as meaning the actual number of men who shoot in the contest for any college. In these circumtances the Committee had no alternative but to rule Willoughby not eligible for this tournament.