BOWL TESTING

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 13870, 22 October 1910, Page 4

BOWL TESTING

CHAT WITH .MR AY. A. SCOTT. During the past tour weeks, Mr W. A. fcjeott, tho official bowl tester apuointod by the New Zealand Bowling Association, has been engaged putting the bowls of Canterbury through their lacings, and bestowing on them, aiier bringing them up to standard, the imprimatur of the Association. He came ui> to this city intending to stay only a feu- days, but tho bowlers of town and country clubs simply overwhelmed him with a tornado ot bowls, and tho amount of work necessitate*! a considerably longer stay. The greater part ot the lesiing operations has boon carried out on the Christchurch Club s ureen, which is admirably suited tor the purpose, and the club deserves tho very* warm thanks of bowlers for its generosity. Mr Scott has had the assistance ol Mr ]>envy, a well-known local bowling enthusiast. A slight shower which fell the other day caused Mr t"-cott to make one ot the very few interruptions which havo taken nlace in bowl testing during the month," and those few minutes were devoted to a chat with our reporter on the subject on which Mr iScott is mo urinie authority. The machine which is used by tbe tester i.s his own invention, and is only a part of the whole system, into which a remarkable amount of energy has been thrown for years past. Take Mr Scott's own description of the machine: "A piece of T iron, 17 feet long, planed all over, having an incline of -1 feet, and bent at it,s lower part to allow the bowl runing down the incline to take the green at its own plane. The swivel connecting tho rail with the stand allows the operator to lift up the end of the rail and shift it round in every direction without in any way disturbing the plane of the rail. The idea is that when a bowl has been delivered, the rail may be moved a certain distance, gauged by a quadrant at the point ot the rail, s.) that no two bowls run in the same track. Each bowl is ttius compelled to lake its own draw in accordance with its own structure.'' Mr Scott then went on to say that tht» Association decided upon a standard bawl, which was of medium size, medium weight, and medium high crown. A standard throw was next i adopted, and 80ft ivas arrived at by I adding the maximum and minimum togetticr, and dividing by two. The standard green was arrived at.purely by one's own judgment of known bowling greens. lor instance, one could not include new greens, such as tho Opawa, Edgeware, and Linwood, but would take in such greens as tho Christchurch, Duncdin, Phcenix, and {Southland, which have- reached v reasonable degree of perfection. The test i.s made by running tho bowls down the rail on to the green, and comparing their draw and tho ltnj'th ol the throw with those of the standard bowl. On a standard green, allowing the Ijowls to start from the ir.it mark on the rail, all the bowls ! pas-in<; must come up to tho standard. i \Vhen"the conditions are different, various allowances have to bo made to various bowls, which might either exceed or bo under the standard should the 13ft mark on the rail be either increased or shortened. Mr fecoit keeps a 'iog," in which particulars ot every set tested are entered. lheso particulars include tho player's name, the club to which he belongs, thD marks which may be on the bowls, the maker's privato mark, the size of the bowls, the height of the crown, and the mark on tho rails which they take to throw 80ft. Tho records of tho it>» may be readily referred to at any time. It constitutes an effective check against interference with bowls which have been tested and stamped, as any alterations would involve entirely' different results from those noted whon tho test was made. The class of bowl& in Christchureh, Mr Scott.considered, -was on■ tho whole very satisfactory. The mimbor.of bowls altered was less than in the South. He attributed that more to the fact that it was the older clubs in the South who took tho matter of testing up m the first instance. A bowl loses its draw after years of play, which must have a wearing effect. Another thing which kept the average up m Canterbury was tbe fact that a ver.v largo proportion of new bowls were in use. This was particularly tho case with the Kainpoi. Edgeware, Linwood, and Opawa Clubs, which are quite in their infancy when compared with some ol the older clubs. Some very straight sets were encountered, and some verymixed sets also. There were atao conic

shrunken and lon-sided sets, probably made from wood taken from nenr tlic top of the tree, where the density was not the same. A lot of the sets were ■ lop-eidcd. "In short," said Mr Scott, "the average man knows very little about his bowls; with rare exceptions 1 do not give them my opinion, as it illicit put them off their set." One club's bowls, were particularly bad, bocause they had been played on a, gritty eurfacc, which caused excessive wear. Cue set Mr Scott tested dated back to 1854. TJio new bowls coming out now, Mr Scott said, wcro very much bettor in systcmatised draw than tht older class of bowls. More than half tho bowls tested exceeded the standard, but very fow ran away from it. A fow sets which were obviously wide wcro narrowed to briir; them back to the standard, as their owners were quite within their rights in having this done. There were about 420 sets, or K>Bo bowls, tested, of which. 41.55 per cent, had to bo altered. Tho interview concluded when the sun came out again, and Mr Scott finished with a tip to Ixnvlers. "Where tho lignum vitce is exposed, or the varnish is worn off, a little raw linseed oil. applied damp with a rag after use, will soon put a better surface on than an; , other application will give you."