On the Greens

TOURNAMENT TIMES

PROMISE OF BRIGHT MATCHES

PROBABLE IMPROVED STANDAED

OF PLAY.

SENIOR PENNANT LADDER. "Section A. Wins, losses. Hataitai 3 0 Victoria 2 1 Hutt 1 2 " Central 0 3 Xuandallah p 2 Island Bay 2 0 Lyall Bay l 1 Section B. Wins. losses. Thornton 8 0 Xewtown 2 0 Seatoun 1 2 Johnsonvilie ' 1 2 Karori 1 2 Petone -.._ 1 1 Kelhurn .„„ 0 . 2 By f< Number Two." The,,centre tournament will be in progress by the time that these notes appear, though Friday's programme wa6 completely upset and all matches were postponed. There is only one matter' that was left in abeyance; that was the question of the green or greens upon which the post-sectional play should take place. The decision has been left in tfye hands of the Greens Committee appointed by the' centre, and they will probably eettle the question at a meeting "to be, held this eveniug. In these matters it is generally a fair guide., to select the best greens for playing1 the 6emi-nnals and finals.

In my. notes of last week dealing with the Dominion tournament, I indicated that although there had been an increase of entries in the rinks tournament, there had been decreases in the competitions for the pairs and singles, but bowlers will' certainly arrive at an erroneous conclusion if they think that in consequence of those decreases in entries that the pairs and singles competitions will this year be inferior to those of previous Dominion tournaments.

As a matter of fact; many of the old hands are convinced, the competitions have been substantially improved by the reduction in the number of entries. In the past, they argue, many bowlers have entered for both merely by reason of the fact that they have been at the tournament, and have had nothing else to do, but these two competitions on this occasion will be between those who really believe that they have a. reasonable chance of winning and thereby securing the honour of the champion singles or champion pairs. A glance over the various sections, published a few days ago, will show that those who are > participating will, immediately they commence play, meet worthy opponents. As far as the singles are concerned, there are no less than five previous winners of the championship during the last ten years.1 Several of them will meet early in the competition, and these meetings must certainly provide some interesting matches. The competitor who has the greatest honour list is Maxwell Walker, of Auckland; he has won the singles on three occasions. J. Kilgoui-, the first winner of the Dominion singles, is again a, competitor. The honour has been gained twice in Wellington, by Ingram and J. E. Brackenridge; both have entered this season. Ernie Harraway, who has been a consistent supporter of Dominion tournaments, and has won the singles, will play his first game against Wooller,. of Remuera. Without referring particularly to any one of the sections, it is surely safe to say that there is sufficient ability among those bowlers already mentioned to make for a thoroughly ii^ terosting competition, possibly more interesting than has been previously held in New Zealand.

As far as the pairs are concerned, those participating appear to be of equal calibre. In regard to the rinks, it should be observed that this competition is one which provides for the social side of the game. Tour days will be given to leisurely play, the experts and the social players meeting one another periodically. The conditions are not strenuous, only two games per day being required, and this will afford most of the visitors .the opportunity of taking luncheons at the various hotels at which they may be staying. After this pleasant and leisurely competition, the president's Day W)U be held on the Wellington green. lhiß the president desires to be a, social reunion between bowlers from all'parts of the Dominion. A match will be played between South and North by teams to be selected by ballot. This cannot be considered a very serious competition, but it will probably provide some excellent games. Another feature, has been added to the afternoon by the decision that the finals of the pairs are to take place at the same time There 7h w n-° übt bY great gathering on the Wellington Club's greens on this afternoon. The bowler/ "at home" in the Town Hall and excursions for the lady visitors, will complete a very interesting programme for this €eason's ■Uommion Tournament v While the bad weather spell was on bowlers were the glummest folk in Wellington but with the sun more friendly again the smiles are wonderful, andl aa \ ma"f, r °f. fact, the rain came at just about the right time, for it gave back doubt grnS a big hel P »I°4, and unSafe\^7oftf e een m U lrtLus tear One of the fears of the Tomn-, ment Committee at the openin. o f - h : season was that the summe might set Zt"& ln December- thaW 8 * are faSne offle;n° co t m-Ment on this m"ked to profit by t! le experience tsuWquent years., and let this year's system act as a warning, l est the same, plan be followed again, with similar unfortunate results. It. was only to be expected that the singles and pairs would show fe heavy reduction on the Christchurch entries, for both competitions are very popular in tb» South Island, but that e»ch

should consist of 42 entries lesa than in j Auckland two years ago mußt surely' indicate something radically wrong. '■ Without analysing the position very exhaustively, having not yet seen the entries for the singles, it is difficult to resist the temptation to say, "I told you so," for the opinion has been freely expressed in Auckland that the Dominion Council made a fatal mistake in commencing the singles on the Monday. Tuesday would have been quite early enough, and it would have avoided the necessity for all competitors outside Wellington to break into the previous week by having to travel on the Saturday, and from some places even on the Friday. The Wellington tournament committee completed the mischief by giving everybody a fright over the pairs, in threatening to cut the section play down to only three rounds, and probably during the many weeks that thia vexed question hung in the balance a good many intending competitors gave up the idea of going for the first week at all. , , . Auckland is supporting the tournament very well, entering no less than nine rinks, or ten, if we count the entry from South Auckland. They comprise three from. Carlton, and two each, from Bemuera, Auckland, and West End, while Hamilton sends one. The same people seem to be playing jn the pairs, with the addition of Sir. H C. Clarke, of Rocky Nook

IN FULL SWING AT NELSON.

Bowling in Nelson is in full swing, and any Wellington bowler "coming for the holidays is assured of good greens to play on, and a welcome to join in play.

The monthly (17th) fnll-rink competition {or the Leaper Shield was played on Saturday last, the Maitai Club winning on the aggregate, the scores be-, ing: Maitai 253, Nelson 245. A friendly dispute took place on one of the rinks during the contest, the circumstances being: One of the Maitai skips drove with his last ball and his No. 3 stopped it with his foot before it went in ditch, purppsely, because it was going at a big pace. The Maitai skip claimed to play the shot over again, but he was over-ruled.

THE ENGLISH ASSOCIATION.

The secretary's report to be presented at' the annual meeting of the .English Association next month shows that the membership of the association has been increased during 1924 to 747 clubs, which makes the English Association the largest of its kind iv th» bowlingworld, says our London correspondent. The rexjort also states that an international team will be sent out to Australia and New Zealand in the autumn of 1925, and that an invitation to visit Great Britain in 1926 has been extended to the South African bowlers.

It has been decided to hold the international matchos for 1925. at Cardiff.

The president of the English Association is taking great interest in the proposed tour to. New Zealand, and he ia canvassing likely members in connection with it. '

Bowls enthusiasts in London are this winter not likely to loee their skill, for an indoor bowling club has been formed, with the Crystal Palace iis its venue. Tho building used is the one which represented Australia at a Dominions' exhibition some years ago. It is well lighted and comfortably heated, and the turf substitute is felt overlaid with coconut matting held very taut. Members are rolling up there with great zest.

WICKS.

Mr. M. F. Barnett, who has presented, a Maori tiki for competition between' Wellington a_nd Christchurch, is taking'a special delight in superintending the carving. When completed it will be a magnificent piece of work, and well worthy of a prominent place iv any club pavilion. Mr. .Barnett will present the trophj to the centres at Wei-: linston early in February. I have read of instances of a bird having been killed by a golf ball, but never of one being so disposed of by a bowl on a bowling green until Friday evening last, when a game was in progress on thei Sydcnhara green," writes | "Skip," in the Cluistchurch "Press." "A bowl had just been delivered, when a cock sparrow settled on a green a dozen yards in front of the mat; it appeared to look round and get a sight ot the bowl coming towards it. made one or two hops as if in defiance, but it either misjudged the pace or bias of the vii j'-W« ran clean over it and Hilled it, ■ - .

, T ?J?."y bowlers will remember Mr. D 31 Alister, an ex-Dunedinite, who has been m business in Shanghai.for some years past. He paid Dunedin a visit in the early part of the year, when on furlough renewing pleasant acquaintances, ismce he has returned to Shanghai he has sent a letter to Mr. W. J. Croft (president of Dunedin Club), and gives a breezy account of the recent disturbance in China, from which I take the following extract ■ (the letter is dat«d 22nd October):—"Anj a bit shaky at present; had three weeks' soldiering guarding bridges and sleeping in billets, and got a touch of dysentery, which put me to bed for eight days. By the way, I forgot to mention about the war in our front yard. I suppose you know about it. Ihe volunteers have been on duty for five weeks, together with sailors and marines from the men-o-'war in portr-British, French, Japanese, American, Portuguese, and Italians. A cosmopolitan army—eh, what!- I read a Home paper the other day, and it was ghastly to know what we went through —bombs dropping, streets running with blood, and the residents living on the beach. Well, the truth is we had races every Saturday, although the guns were firing a few miles off., No bombs wer« dropped, no casualties; and there ain't no beach. Of course, business is at a standstill. The tragic part of the war is the thousands of refugees (mostly women and children) who flocked into the settlement. The soldiers played tho very devil wherever they went. Villages were cleaned out-and then burned. Any way, it is all over now. The country people can go back to what is left of thoir farms, and we can sleep on our own beds and not on bridges. The comic part was to see soldiers with clips of cartridges filled with paper bullets. They made a sound when fired like the genuine article, and were used to blurt the other fellows that they had plenty of ammunition."

HARD WORK OF IT.

It is said that a bowler cannot expect to make much progress unless ho has plenty of mid-week practice, goes in for' club matches, and takes part in tournaments. If such a course was the ro'yai road to success, then some of our idle rich bowlers who play every afternoon and growl because they cannot get on the green of a morning ought to be world beaters, but they are not and never will ge, although occasionally there emerges from their ranks one who is a bit above the ordinary, gays a Northern bowling writer. However, on' most greens just now mid-week practice and club match play are synonymous. The eliminating rounds are being played, and that means that the playing of club matches must be done iv the mid-week, and players are given much practice thereby. Some bowlers are making hard work of it, for instance, one who had entered for tbo " programme " on a recent working day went up in his lunch hour and played a singles game aud returnedto the green from his office at about 5 o'clock and played two more singles gimes before the shades ef night, which were falline fast, actually fell on him..