BOWLING.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 222, 18 September 1924, Page 7

BOWLING.

NOTES AND COMMENTS. NEW ZEAtAWDEKS ABROAD. (By TUUNDLEE.). Messrs. R. Buchanan ana C. J." Schnauer. of the Onehunga Club, hail returned to England when the last m.ill left, after a delightful tour on the Continent. T P e .*r itinerary inelnded the land of the midnight sun, besides Sweden. Denmark, Holland, ■Belgium, Germany and France. Mr. Torrance, of the Taurauza Clnb, Las returned from a long trip to the Old Country, and has decided to live In .Auckland. He will be playing for Pousonby during the coming season. Like most New Zealanaers who have taken a trip Home (in his case It was to Bonnie Scotland); he fonml that a good deal of the romance was lost in the shocking weather at the other, end ot Mc world,-but he thinks he can remember two or three tine days while he was iherc. nearly as good as Auckland: lias experienced during the past four weeks. A Christchurch resident who returned the other day could not even recall ag much as that, anil admitted difficulty In remembering whether it was once or twice that he had seen the sun daring two months W Kngland. Another was greatly puzzled over the experience, and asked if they ever had any sntnmer. The reply was even more expressive than he had expected: "Last year we had it on a Wednesday." The striking difference between . the climatic conditions at Home and in New Zealand no doubt accounts for the failure of English grasses on New Zealand greens, especially in Auckland, whereas they stand up well to the English climate. Thit germs to be amply borne ont by a letter from Mr. R. .1. Allely, of the Mount Albert Clnb, who !.i having time in the Old Country. Writing to a friend, after touring the south and past of England, lie was proposing to take a run over to Ireland, and then cross to Scotland, returning via the West Coast of England. His letter Is sufficiently interesting to be quoted verbatim, but a few extracts will be specially appreciated by bowlers. "The first club I visited was at Southampton, the oldest green in England. It is tucked into a corner of the old wall built by the Xormane, and was laid down in 1280. Here Drake is supposed to have played. At that time it was a part of the pleasannee ox garden of the old Tudor House, where Henry VIII. went honeymooning with Anne Boleyn. Charles I. playedthere also, and left his signature on the books. I pnt mine there also: so two notable names will go down to posterity. The records make no mention of the green ever having been rclaid or grassed, and the greenkeeper told mc that except for the addition to edges und new ditches the same sward had been down for the whole- 625 years! They have had a gold medal competed for every year for 100 years. The winner Is invested with the title of 'Sir,' and legaiiy. recognised by the Crown. I could not recommend the green to play on. for although the rinks are wonderfully accurate and level, the grass is. like a i>it of sponge, and could never be keen. I had two*or three pleasant games, and was pret sented to the 'captain.' same as our president. They call driving 'firing,'- and they collected In a crowd to 'see the New 55ealander firing." I was able to startle them a bit, for all I met were indifferent players. On the Private Greens. I took every opportunity! I could to visit any bowling clnbs. They are a very conservative crowd in the private greens, ana do not welcome visitors like we do in New, Zealand. If you have somebody to Introduce you, you are then made welcome, bnt most private clubs have a notice on the gate, *Xo admittance.' I was Inckj in gen- j erally. having some friend who knew a bowler, or was one, and got into several select places for a game. The public greens are all nselese to a. good bowler. The caretaker is responsible to the corporation for the green, and so long as Jie keeps it tidy, with a good, grass sward, Jje does not care about the bowlers. I found "them all in consequence very heavy, and. sometimes not trne, although they looked real well. Of coarse the reason was that the caretaker never cut close, and rolled only with a very 'light roller. I found only one exception to this. (of course there may be many others that I have no knowledge oft. that was at ■Brighton, In the public • park. I found three beautiful greens there, laid down in Cumberland sod. This; sod is carried from Cumberland, and laid'on a - foundation of clinker and sand, about a foor deep. The sod is only from 1 J to 2 Inches thick, and I» a beautiful fine grass. No weeds grow, and the' cnttlng or rolling is not severe- consequently these greens are always keen and Mte a-billiard tabic.-,. We iiav«i nothing like this green in New Zealand.' The nearest I know is that -very fine grass on the Onenunga green. This does not mean that our greens' do not- compare ■'favourably with English. From my observation so far they do, so far as play is concerned, and our ■players eouU knock epots off the best of them. These Cumberland grass greens are great favourites, and cosfroughly £300 for the turf alone. . I Jjad some, fine games at Brighton, also at Westcliit-on-sea, but fonnd I conld nearly always hold my own. I was matched to play a man at Westcliff. who was the champion tfor two years, and had just come back from somewhere w*i a cup valued at £130. I had the. good fortune to beat him by one point, with a lucky drive to the ditch, so,came away with. New Zealand's reputation in the ascendant. The secretary of this club is coming back to Auckland with mc in October. He was very kind to mc, and is going to visit, a man I know in New Lynn. The world Iβ getting smaller, don't yon think? So far I have played at nine different places. The best were Westcllff-on-sea./Brighton and Luton. All these have the Cumberland sod." ' .