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244 agenda-paper notice of the point to be raised, but, if I am correctly informed, this was not done, and one captain at least left the meeting before the discussion was opened. We have also learned since that the meeting was not unanimous, for Mr. Ranjitsinghi wrote to disagree, wholly or in part, with the decision.

When a rule is written and incorporated in the laws of a game, repeal or alteration is always possible, but if a phrase or an epigram comes to have all the power of an unwritten law, repeal or alteration becomes a matter of tradition and sentiment, and is almost impossible to effect. Years ago, when matches were generally finished in two days because the wickets were more difficult, it became an unwritten law that unless the umpire felt no doubt whatever that a man was run out, leg before, stumped, or caught at the wicket or elsewhere, that he was given not out—in other words, the batsman was given the benefit of the doubt. This principle became fixed, and to this day it seems to me umpires are still in favour of the batsmen and against the bowlers. Umpires seem inclined to lean too strictly to the letter of the law, and