A POPULAR SPORT.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXI, Issue 30, 5 February 1900, Page 4

A POPULAR SPORT.

■ Cricket, football, and those sports which lie particularly,within the pro-

vince of active youth, have frequently engaged our comment in these col--urnhs, but we must confess that we have' been! lacking in ajjsimilar courtesy towards the' ancfeiit game of bowls, We can only plead ignorance

as an excuse for our remissness—an ignorance to which we have just been made fully alive by the Bowling Tournament which has been going on here during the week. Until now we have had only a faint and incomplete idea of the fascination which the game ex-

ercises over its votaries, and we must own that the gatherings on our greens during the past six days of bowlers from all parts of the Nortfh. Island and from New South Wales, and the wrapt enthusiasm displayed by both old and young has been something of a surprise to us. Uninitiated though we are in the inner mysteries of the sport, there is no shaking off the growing conviction that bowling must indeed be the grand game its worshippers declare it is; a game, we had almost said—if it were not treason to suggest such a thing—a game worthy to be ranked with cricket. Of a certainty the national game seldom evokes the same degree of earnest enthusiasm that a game of bowls gives rise to. find the cricketer can take a rational interest in matters non-cricketal. But the bowler goes further even than the golfer who is generally looked on as unique in his devotion to his fetish; and nlt'hongh he may occasionally be persuaded to talk of lesser thing's, it is evident, from the far-away look in his eye, which always seems as if it were talcing aim at an imaginary "jack," that he never thinks of anything else. One need have no hesitation in saying Hint the gentlemen assembled here last week to take part in or view the tournament did little else besides play, talk, and think bowls. The progress of the .Avar, we feel sure, was but a trivial topic with them, and the fate of General Teller's forces a small matter compared with the fate of the rival teams at Ponsonbv or Graf ton.

One cannot but commend a game which while affording healthy exercise in attended with so muc'li pleasurable excitement. At the same time the thought does suggest itself that perhaps this devotion to a certain form of amusement may be carried a little too far. One may .have too much of a good thing, and there is a danger'ln these days, when the cult of athleticism is so strong, to argue that because a nastime is healthful it cannot be too frequently indulged in, even to the neglect of the graver matters of life. We have beard several employers complain of the detriment they suffer through the ascendency which outdoor sports 'have gained' in the public mind; and of their inability to discourage an indulgence which has so completely the popular sanction. One merchant declared that he would never grudge the absence of an employee at the rifle butts, because he felt the man was qualifying to be of direct use to his country, but he objected to the frequent absences, for football tours, cricket matches, bowling tournaments. We cannot help envyiug. I'hose. lucky gentlemen who devote themselves to bowls. Business does not seem to fix its iron grip on them as on less fortunate mortals. They enjoy a blissful emancipation from' the .severe thraldom of labour, hi the hot afternoons when ordinary mortals arc still sweating and toiling, they in cool garments are wending their way to the g-reen lawns^a And then when there^is a tournamenf it is really .surprising the number of leisured gentlemen there ore in the community. They come from all over the country with an alacrity and filled with an enthusiasm that suggest they have been called by matters of grave personal and national moment. Happy bowlers! What wonder if we envy * them. Now we fear we may have aroused the ire of bowlers by these remarks. But our suggestions held no adverse reflections 0,1 the royal game. We only ventured a word on the danger of over-indul-gence in it, w'hieh its fascinations would seem to justify. History supports us more than we had imagined when we dropped that note of warning, for we find that on several occasions in Great Britain bowls were -, forbidden game, being classed amonir those that were "dishonourable, nselessl and unprofitable." In the time of Edward TV. the game was particularly in disrepute, and a variation of it is spoken of as leading men to their utter undoing, and even to felonies and murders. To recall the fact that a game now so spotlessly respectable the delight alike of ingenuous youth and sedate old age should -have hud ■such a reputation, may appear to bowlers ju the nature o f propagating a malicious libel. But the facts of the case may be found in the statutes of Ensfland. Let us sincerely pray that no later development of the game may be productive of similar dire results