BOWLING.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 49, 28 February 1927, Page 15

BOWLING.

THIS WEEK'S PROGRAMME. THE QUESTION OF BYES. (By TUUNDLER.) The incessant rain oil Saturday was a '.;een disappointment to those bowlers who had been chosen to compete in the fifth round of the pennant matches. However, no great personal inconvenience was caused, for >«'o. 394 is now established as the recognised medium for communicating all urgent sporting information, and all who rang up that number were at once told that the matches were postponed. A meeting of the centre executive will be held this evening, when it will no doubt lie decided winch round is to l>played next Saturday, whether the iirst or the fifth. The first two Saturdays in March were reserved for any postponements, and it is to be assumed that they will be played in their chronological order, unless it is considered more con venient to play off first the round for which the teams are already announced. The New South Wales bowlers who are going to lour the North Island will arrive by the Marama to-morrow, and those bowlers who are anxious to meet them can ascertain the probable hour of arrival by ringing up No. 304 in the morning. In the unfortunate absence of the Mayor of Auckland (Mr. Geo. Baildon), who is himself a bowler of great repute, the visitors will be accorded a civic reception by the Deputy-Mayor (Mr. J. A. Warnoek). As a compliment to the oldest bowling club in the Southern Hemisphere, this" function will take place on the Auckland green, where the visitors are to play their first match, and no doubt a goodly number of bowlers will be present at 2 o'clock, to assist in the ceremony, even if they cannot stay tne whole afternoon.

Daylight Saving in England. If there lias ever been any doubt about the distinct success of daylight saving in England, it will surely be settled' by the cabled information last week that for the future "summer time" will begin on April 9 and end on October 1, in Britain, France, Belgium, and Holland. The adoption of uniform dates is due to the confusion in the vunning of "ferry" trains when the different countries have different dates. The corresponding dates in New Zealand would be October !) to April 1, whereas the proposal which Mr. T. K. Sidoy intends to bring up again next session is from the first Sunday in November to the first Sunday in March. This would be next Sunday, and it makes a very short period compared to the extended time which experience in Europe now demands. Another pcint is that if they want an extra hour in countries where the evenings are already one to two hours longer than they are in New Zealand, the proposed reform would'be of still more benefit here. This definite progress in the movement in Europe will be good news to Mr. Sidey, the chief advocate of this reform, who is now in a private hospital in Auckland. Unfortunately he caught a severe cold while coming to attend the first meeting of the new University Senate, and although he is gradually recovering he will probably be laid up for a few days still. Who Should get the Bye? Rather an interesting position seems likely to arise at Onehunga in a day or two, if the eighth round of tho championship singles goes a certain way. If Macklow beats George, four competitors will enter the semi-finals, all ono-lifera, so it will run out nicely in two more rounds. But if George wins there will be three left, who have all had a bye, Wright getting his in the round now being played. History may possibly, therefore, repeat itself, for that is exactly the position which arose in thb centre tournament last Easter, when the committee decided not to put him in the draw for the bye in the next round. In the event of a bye being necessary, there will again be endless discussion on who should get it, the competitors and the club° committee have been carefully searchiii» the rules, and they can find nothing in the rules of the club, the centre, or the D. B. A., suggesting that Wright should not come in oil the level, and get his equal chance for the ,bye with the other two, in which case he may get two byes in succession.

If anyone is in a position to attack this decision, it would be interesting to learn the grounds of the objection. To be of any value the objection must be based on rules, and not on opinions, for t.he latter are useless and misleading when they fly in the face of the former"

This incident is only another proof of the absurdity of the'frequent contention that there are too many rules. The exact opposite is the case: There are not enough of them, for due provision should be made beforehand for every likely contingency, and then everyone would be satisfied, whereas nobody can be satisfied if a new rule has to be manufactured when the contingency arises. ° The Auckland centre's rule-revising committee adopted a practical course when they suggested that the Dominion Council should draw up a model set of tournament rules and conditions, but the higher body shelved this point by confining their new rule on the bye question to the automatic draw, so that presumably the old rule holds good in the case of any other draw. Even the rule in the automatic draw could be improved upon. It says that "preference shall be given to winners until exhausted," and the usual interpretation of this "preference to winners" is that the names of all the two-lifers should be put in the hat and drawn for, and when they are exhausted the bye should go to a one-lifer, similarly drawn for. However, this was not done in recent tournaments. The names were paired off from the bottom, and if there was an odd number the top one got the bye, naturally a two-lifer. If he had had one already, it went to the next one, and so on, right down to the one-lifers. When they had all had one, the next bye went to the original one again. It may be that this was intended when the rule was framed, but competitors would be still better pleased if the proceduce was altered to fit the rule as it reads, or else the rule altered to fit the procedure. Either crouse would do, whereas when the rule is so clearly capable of two interpretations this is presumptive evidence that it is defective.

MOUNT ALBERT CLUB. 1 ' PAIRS TOURNAMENT. The following skips have been entered for the pairs tournament to be held on Wednesday:—Allely, Blanehard, Bonskill, Clark, Dann, De Launa.v, Eagleton Horril son, Hawke, Parkin-Hill, Jenkin, Nash, J, Thomas, J. Tomllnson, JValters, JVitham,

SOCIAL AT ROCKY NOOK. Bowlers representing the Dominion Association, the Auckland Centre, and a large number of the clubs in the Auckland district. gathered in the Rocky Nook Club's pavilion on Saturday evening, under the' presidency of Mr. Alf. Hoylaiice, to do honour to Mr. H. C. Clarke, winner of I lie Dominion singles championship. The gathering inilnded Messrs. Arthur Yeoman ann A. Coltinan. representing the Dominion Association; Mr. .T. I'ascoe, representing the Auckland Centre; the presidents of local clubs; and Messrs. M. Walker, a former Dominion singles champion; E. Jury, twice winner of the rinks championship; and Mr. Norrie Bell, J.P., of Hamilton, runner-up in the singles. A lengthy toast list was honoured, the various speakers paying tribute to the splendid work accomplished by the Dominion Association and its officials at the last tournament, and to the manner in which the Auckland Centre controlled the affairs of the province, special reference being made to the line work of Mr. Geo. L. Gladding, secretary. In presenting Mr. Clarke and the club with certificates recording the win in the singles, Mr. Pascoe. president of (he Auckland Centre, eulogised the play of flic winner and the fine sporting spirit he had displayed, both in victory and defeat. Auckland members, lie said, were proud that one of their number had achieved the honour, while the standard of play by which it was won was of the highest. In responding, Mr. Clarke recounted some of tlie narrow escapes he had had during (lie course of the tournament, and said that in the final, though the figures were 011 his side, lie knew that if he had slackened for a moment Mr. Bell would have seized the opportunity. A high civic official had asked him how he had managed to pull oil' this championship. His reply was that lie put it down to the water supply —it filled one so full of grit that defeat was not (0 be thought of. (Laughter.) Mr. N'orrie Bell, jun., in responding to the toast of Ills health, spoke of the excellent spirit in, which the final game had been played, and added that, in the words of his father, he would have needed a rudder on his bowls to beat the winner. An Interesting musical programme was interspersed among the toasts.

THAMES. The weather conditions on Saturday afternuou were anything but ideal for good bowling. With the greens rather heavy from the rain during Friday night and misty showers' during the afternoon, the play lacked finish. The following games were played: Dodd, Gallop, Strange. Delnmore 18. v. l'ork, Howe, Alexander, G. Cordcs 16; Chilton, Scanlon, Peebles, 11. Cordcs '-"2, v. Jackson, H. Murray, Whitehead, Adamson 17; I'earson, Lloyd, Griilin, Millington 24, v. Wallace, Bateman, Alacka.v, Cameron 14: Palmer, Keith, Shand, Smith 27, v. McCullough, Bongard, Buclian, Pedrottf 22.