BILLIARDS: STRAY NOTES.

Press, Volume XLVIII, Issue 7863, 14 May 1891, Page 2

BILLIARDS: STRAY NOTES.

The ''pneh etroke," so of ten «» n yPlayere, Is a recognised foK!* **™*& ptofewional players In lift*, t ebould be disallowed. Though the S e " squires 80me learning to pft / a <«ur«cy It is a moet unfair one, tut,\ t J; u « ™o play the pueh ehot aro mereb 32 W the cloak o* a little skill, niakina » u er which the framera of the aamn V lo ' Intended to bo played. c n< *e* The Billiard Association in England! proposing to design a pocket wßehiLS put an end to the spot stroke, bccaii^ii , ' shot will then be very difficult ofvSi* tion. I surmise that the Dockets win "' find very great favour with colonla»»° t the average billiardist I see would lit see the corner pockets enlarged to e? 1, thing like the size of a bucket. As \toSt prietors of billiard roomi who pa? gas, why they'd go tank staring mart »* small pocket reform were introduc-rt 4 Amonst the Maoris I have often L some very good players, many of Vh« are unable to speak more than a t• words of English, but are canakL . knocking the balls round in JSu of fessionaistyle. The gamei 3 knownah?* o ' as well perfiaps Iα the Xln K Count™ ?f w ia in the towns, and the Natives «).» lt the "gentlemanly" principle O f not «J? ting an opponent** ball, this misdeed j≤ considered mean, and In order to /W^? , * the enormity of the offence it U "Turakina," this being the township on the West £oast noted for a° penuriousness of many of its inhahisL* c Many of the Natives on the West p have good rent rolls, and when thr»v in funds they visit the smaller towSW* and quite monopolise the billiardrr ip ' day, and night, engagi agia « p i or "black pool," three favuuriL „ • with them. When playingX O X*" game of billiards, It to watch them. A white man can fluke with a straight fa Ce; cannot disguise his play especially If there are other Natlvea in the room when nn opponent "pots" a ball, the exXSiin? ••Yuraklna - or''TurakinaCAnnKS from all eidea of the room, or wheuaflnu is made the native eye is quick to <W? It, indeed, X believe Natives generally with the same amount of practice ami with no more than ordinary tuition would boat moat whitemen. J nmifJj to mention above that fcher mm? times pay by the day f M { g»J many being too wily to pat one shilling per game, while another object they have in view is to debar an? pachas who may want a game from checklnathtU play, and this alao gives them the prlvileen of allowing friends to play, and the power as well to exclude spoilers and experts who are ever on the alert to take them down.

The game of billiards, though 7er - popular, and played by a great number must be set dovrn as a rather coatlj pastime. To be plain it is not a poor matt'i game, though how often do we flnd young and old immensely interested ia the i«eu« of their gatuee. Let anyone take a looi into the average billiard room situated in a hotel or private building, and he wilUeoa number of youug men, artisans and labourers, and these will be either playing or waiting for a game. Now, when it is considered that it only takei from twenty to thirty minutes to pl&y a game of fifty up, it must be considered a costly amusement, and the wonder U how many young mechanics and others whose wages muse be small, and who are found so constantly at the table aide either as players or onlooker-*, can And the wherewithal. Nearly all my spare hours and. I confess, many that 1 might have spent fat more profitably in my younger dnya were taken up in billiard rooms, and soma of them badly appointed ones at that. There is something so fascinating about billiards when one first starts tbe game, that sultry rooms sometimes reektog with tobacco smoko will not act as a bar to the ardent young man of the day. Indead I have seen some young men whom It would take "a team of bullocks" ,ta draw away from their favorite pastime, to which ono may become so attached as to make it an enslaving amusement.