BOWLING.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 172, 23 July 1929, Page 12

BOWLING.

MATCHES POSTPONED.

GRAMMAR SCHOOL JUBILEE

CURTAILING THE DOMINION

TOURNAMENT.

(By TRUNDLER.)

Bowlers would have been wise to touch wood when rejoicing over nine fine Saturdays in succession this winter, for the weather has now broken with a vengeance, making play impossible for two consecutive Saturdays. Everything is postponed, and the Dominion Road tournament will take place next Saturday, and the following Saturday, if fine. i Grammar School Bowlers. Grammar School Old Boys who play bowls are proposing to put on a curtainraiser for the celebrations in connection with the school's diamond jubilee next month. On August 3, the Saturday previous to the functions already arranged and announced, they will meet at the Carlton green at half-past one, to play the local club, probably ten or twelve rinks strong. About 40 or 50 players now resident in Auckland have been found in old school lists, including two who date right back to 18G9, having entered the school during the very year of its .foundation, 60 years ago, Messrs. Fred Prime (Devonport) and H. F. Forder (Dominion Road), and nearly all have intimated their intention of playing. It is very probable, however, that some have been missed, as the early records do not appear to be very exact, and these are requested to send in their names at once to the secretary or the treasurer of the Auckland Centre, who are both Grammar Old Boys.

This unique gathering will be "welcomed by Mr. Alf Coutts, president of the Carlton Bowling Club, who is a Grammar Old Boy of 1870, his only contemporary being Mr. Oliver Nicholson, and a response will be made by the headmaster, Mr. 11. J. D. Mahon, who joined as a pupil in 1886, and also by Professor Maxwell Walker, who joined in 1893.

Unlike most Old Boy Junctions in connection with schools, this will be a real gathering: of veterans, for it is proposed to include none who joined later than April, 1800, or exactly a third of a century ago. If there are any younger than that who play bowls, there must l)e very few, for none can be found in the 'lists of 1894, 1895, and 1897, and only one in 1896. A good many people, therefore, will be astonished to learn that the skip of the "baby" rink will bo Professor Walker. As it will be quite impossible to postpone the function, all are requested to attend on that afternoon, even if it is showery, for a pleasant hour or two could bo spent with song and story, enjoying a cup of tea in many cases with some whom they have hardly seen for 40 years or more. The teams will be published early next week. t . Western Australian Centenary. It seems •/that the bowling carnival in Perth, in connection with the centenary of Western Australia, will commence on October 31, riot October 17, as .advised in the special number of, the "Western Mail." This will be more convenient for any New Zealand bowlers who may be able to play on their way back from England, so any friends who have already written them with the earlier date are requested to correct the information. "Entries close in Perth on September 28, and there are three events. The singles and rinks are to be played on the same system ae in the carnival which our party attended in Melbourne eighteen months ago, which is the nearest that they can get to our two-life system. The prize is £20 in each case, but trophies to this value are not a very great inducement to New Zealand bowlers, for most of them would prefer trophies to half that value, provided they could get Four days of play, as they do here. The remaining event is the Interstate four-rink championship, between sixteens from any State, Dominion or colony in the British Empire. Apparently all the bowlers in the world are eligible except those in the British Isles and the United States, and it is understood that the latter are caving up for a trip to New Zealand a year later. They will get all the bowling that they want then, even if the prizes are a little more modest.

Cutting Short the Big Tournament. At the annual meeting of the Dominion Council in Dunedin, a' fortnight ago, Mr. A. K. Smart (New Plymouth) gave notice of his intention to move at the nexti annual meeting: "That at the Dominion tournament in 1931 only rinks be played; that there be a full week of section play, the winners ta go forward on the two-life principle; that in the South Island a champion singles and pairs tournament be played, and a similar tournament in the North Island, the winners to meet at the Dominion tournament; and that centres be circularised to this effect, without any recommendation, to ascertain their opinion." A similar scheme has often been suggested before, but this is the first time it has developed into'an actual motion. The centres have a year to think it over, but the proposal will not get much of a hearing in Auckland, especially when the idea is to try it on here first, and spoil our next tournament. The principle underlying the proposal is inconsistent with the other motion carried, to restrict the number of permits for tournaments to centres during January, as they interfere with the entries for the big event. Here is a proposalthat would cut out far more than any clashing tournament Avoukl ever keep away, and it was not accompanied by any proposal as to how the accounts would balance -without the usual entry fees' for 'singles and pairs. These generally bring in £300 to £350 a year, and the Dominion Council would have some difficulty in getting through without that revenue, for it would cost almost as much to run the tournament under the proposed scheme, and the council could not 'Very well get anything out of the preliminary competitions in each island. Another very material point is that rink entries .would also undoubtedly fall away, for a great many competitors would decline to travel all the way from Dunedin to, Auckland, and vice versa, three years' later, except for the triple attraction of rinks, pairs "and singles. Altogether the proposal denies the main principle which has hitherto made the Dominion tournaments rr. ■'"'"•" ,,l °. that

people go there in order to have a good time, and not necessarily to will. How can they enjpy ,a, tournament .with one event as much as they now enjoy the three entirely separate competitions ?