CLAY-BIRD SHOOTING.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 170, 20 July 1936, Page 15

CLAY-BIRD SHOOTING.

WEST COAST CHAMPIONSHIP. ANDERSON TAKES TITLE. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) I'ALMEKSTON NORTH, Sunday. The West Coast (North Island) clay-bird championship and a £50 open handicap were the principal events on the programme at the Palmerston North Gun Club's shoot yesterday. The flelu was one of! the best ever gathered here. Among those competing were Ernest Groome (Hawke's Hay), .Murray Pratt (Otorohanga) and Charles Seildon (Hamilton), who have won the New Zealand championship; T. A. Wrlgley (Levin) and W. McKee (Wanganui), who have held the North Island title: It. li. Cuthbertson (Wanganui), who has won the North Island live bird title. Condition were perfect and the shooting so consistently good that clear-cut wins were out of the question. The West Coast (North Islaml) claybird championship of 21 birds, off 18yds, resulted:—lt. Anderson (Taihapc), H. Belk (Tailiape), C. Seddon (Hamilton), 21. Seddon \iid not have the residential qualification to compete for the championship, for which Anderson and Belk had a slioot-off, Anderson winning on the sixth bird. In a six-bird "eye-opener" before the big handicap event. 10 of the 25 competitors shot the possible anil divided the sweepstake. In the £50 21-bird open handicap, E. Groome (Hastings) 19yds. C. Seddon (Hamilton), 18yds; .1. Duncan (Tailiape), 14yds; H. Belk (Tailiape). lGyds; M. Pratt (Otorohanga), 17yds, all registered the possible and divided the prize. A live-bird, first-mlss-out sweepstake drew 17 starters, but after five birds the field hail been reduced to a dozen. There were seven still going strongly after ten birds, Pratt, Duncan, W. A. Thomson, Farmer, Cuthbertson, Dunlop and Maher. Dunlop missed the seventeenth. Duncan the nineteenth and Malier dropped out at 21, leaving Pratt, Thomson. Farmer and Cuthbertson to fight it out. After the quartet hail each broken 23 birds it was decided to divide the sweepstake.

METROPOLITAN GUN CLUB.

The Metropolitan Gun Club held its fortnightly skeet shoot on Saturday at Mangere. Weather conditions were unpleasant, with the result that no very high scores were registered. In the first round of skeet the best scores were:—A. \j. Byrne, F. H. Seccombe, 18; C. E. Hodge, 17; J. B. Spencer, Fisher, 10.

A half-round, 17 singles only, was completed in the dark, the highest scoresbeing :—J. Walker and C. E. Hodge, 13; J. Donnelly, 12 ; R. G. White 11.