SPORTS AND PASTIMES.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 34, 17 March 1914, Page 4 (Supplement)

SPORTS AND PASTIMES.

Cycling. "Those who take any interest at all in cycling have heard of the Kaiapoi Cycling Club, whose carnival on Easter ? Monday was alwayi one of the big fixtures of tlie year. It was founded iii 1899, and began with a membership of - abonfoloo1904jtwiefi some 200 members. In that year.-Mr .J, A. Mealing became club captain. In >1903 the club laid the . track '"in the Kaiapoi Park, of asphalt, - banked, three laps Snd 220 yds to the mile, at a cost of £7OO. Sports meetings held since have demonstrated that it is one of the best and safest in the Ddminion. About that time the club leased a Toora for meeting purposes, but by 1907 it had clear that-more permanent premises were needed, so rooms in the old Kaiapoi Club were leased, and a billiard table-placed in them, and another set aside as a-reading-room. ' Two years later it was apparent that even better things could lafforded, so the present club rooms •wer'6 built. They comprise a committed' room,' a reading room, and a "billiard fbom with'three tables.' The financial position of the concern is very healthy, land it appears sur.e that for years yet it will .hold not only annual fixture, but /also the usual series of road-races during their season. ' Boiling. Bowling has many devotees in the t«wn, and' Since 1904 a chib has been in' existence. The -first president was jfche' late Mr E. Parfihairi. For tihe first season the game was played on his pri- ; vate greeny also on the lawn, of,the ' vicarage. In 1905 the green" was laid down," the "club then having a member-

nearly - £l5O in one race., Four years ago the club took all before it, but this last three years it has gone back, despite its membership of 50. Its plant is good, and quite up : to date; it has a stretch of water to train on, and a .good regatta course almost at its, door. However, it hopes to have good crews entered.. fot . all events ; at' its annual ; regatta, ttf be .held on 'the 28th.' This, despite the fact that the effects of the late strike,-in the abandonment of the Lyttelton and Akaroa regattas, were felt by causing meii to abandon" training and lose interest for the time being. The present officials of the club are: — President,. Mr Armons; vice-presidents, Messrs R. Wylie, J. H. Blackwell, E. Evans, E. E.' Papprill,' R. O. Dixon; captain, R. Dunn; vice-captain, J. Cooksley; secretary, J. H. '"Williams; and treasurer, J. Macpherson. Hockey. • 1 It was in Kaiapoi that the game of hockey was introduced to New Zealand, and from there also that ladies' hockey began iis all-conquering career. The Rev. Mr. Mathias introduced it, but the exact -year seems still', to be a matter for debate. The Kaiapoi Club took the lead, and for.? many years kept amongst the best of th&n, until about six years ago. Then it dropped* out c>f the ranks of Saturday players, and took its. place with those who played on Thursday. The half-holiday has been chafttged in the city, and Kaiapoi finds itself with none to play against on the and. so it seems probable that this* year it, will go out of existence, in which ,case Mr E. E. Conlan will have been its last president. • Once Kairaki was a port, but that was in. the days before the railway toofc

away its trade and the swift steamship ousted the broad-beamed barque or schooner that didii't mind losing a day or so in waiting for a favourable tide. Now Kairaki is a small collection of houses built on sand dunes and sheltered by .pines and willows/ an ideal holiday place for those who wish to get away from the crowd. Kaiapoi has its summer bungalow at Kairaki, for the littljg riverside-seaside resort is only a couple of miles down the Waimakariri, and overlooks the wave-topped crescent of the bar —the bar which prevents the Waimakariri river from becoming a trade waterway for Kaiapoi >s produce.