N.Z. RIFLE ASSOCIATION.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXII, Issue 8313, 29 February 1912, Page 3

N.Z. RIFLE ASSOCIATION.

WELLINGTON, February 28. At- the opening of the Dominion Rifle. Association's meeting at Trentham, this morning, the weather was warm and genial, and promised a fine day. The teams entered for the service .teams' matches, which formed a series on the programme, were instructed to parade at 8.45, and it was intended to start the Islington Clip competition, which includes marching and an attack on a position represented by targets at 9 a.m. However, at the time appointed only one team appeared at the squadding posts, although four had entered. The Opaka Rifle Club had their full number of twelve men and a commander, but the Suburb Rifle Club only had ten men, I and the Karori Rifle Club only nine j men, while the Nelson Infantry, which j represented the other entrant, had i only one representative. As one of < the conditions of the series was three entries or no match, it was palpably impossible to start. Lieutenant-Colonel Hughes, who, in the absence of Colonel Collins, was in command, postponed the parade until 2 o'clock, to give the; teams a chance of getting the others of their team together. At 2 o'clock there was no further appear-! anco of absentees, and Colonel Collins, who had arrived in the meantime, decided to postpone the team's matches till next day. A couple of extra matches had been placed on the programme—one at 800 yds, and the other at 90Oyds—as practices for those men who were not shooting with the teams, and Colonel Collins issued instructions to add one at 300 yds and one at 1000 yds. The men had been steadily drifting in all day, and at, 3 o'clock there were 327 entries for the meeting, with a probability of at least a dozen more before the individual matches start on Friday morning. At _ noon a sharp shower came on, which afterwards turned into a steady downpour, but the light was excellent, which gave opportunities for useful practices. Amon^ the entries are several exchampions, and shooting to-day were G. Hyde, R. G. King, Roots, and Ross, and W, S. King is another exchampion, who has entered. The shooting, in the 800 yds was an index of the meeting, and showed that most of the men were in excellent form. There were tw;o possibles, and a long string of 34's, among the latter being MarshalL Marenzi, Loveday, and Roots, all. of whom were airing their Bisley experiences. James, another Bisley representative, who had made such a sensation at, Grcytown by scooping the majority of prizes, also put up 34. Roots also got 34 at 900 yds, at which the shooting was also very warm. R. G. King got 34. The match was won by Barkle (Wellington), with the possible. At 1000 yds Meholm (Wellington) was on top with 34, among the 32's 'being Loveday, Marenzi, Barkle, and' Maingay. The 300 yds match, which was the last fired, produced two possibles in Russell (Petone) and Woolley (3rd Regiment). To-morrow morning shooting will commence at 9 o'clock, Avith the Colonial Ammunition Company's Cup match for field firing by teams, and it is expected that three teams will start. There will also be a number of extra matches put on for practice purposes. There has been a misunderstanding as regards service teams matches, most of them being under the idea that they must enter for the series. This was not so, as each match was independent of the other. The extra matches fired to-day were sweepstake matches, and altogether apart from the official programme.