CURRENT NOTES NOTES AND COMMENTS

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22306, 21 January 1938, Page 17

CURRENT NOTES NOTES AND COMMENTS

[By "KITTY"]

The Opawa Club is in a most favourable, financial position, because of the generosity of some of its older members, Mr Frank Steans has done much toward securing this happy position. Claiming lnvercargil} as his home town, Mr Steans came to Christchurch, and, as an ardent angler, devoted many years to that sport. He also did administrative work as president of this district. Bowls attracted him in 1914, and he joined the Opawa Club, with which he has since been associated. His first noteworthy office came with the Dominion tournament, held in Christchurch in 1916, and for which he was treasurer. He was president of his club in 1920-21. He is a vice-president to-day, and is a trustee of its funds. In 1920 he organised a fete which brought in £3OO and cleared off the club's mortgage liability. The Opawa Club has never looked back since.

Elected a member of the Dominion Council in 1923, he was also president of the Christchurch centre that year, having been delegate from his club from 1915. On the playing side he has done well. As a member of C. J. Goldstone's rink in 1915-10, he secured honours in pairs and rinks at the Easter centre tournament. The pair were also runners-up in the champion of champion doubles. He has been singles champion of Opawa seven times, and as skip he has won pairs and rinks four times each. In 1923 he won all three club championships, and with the late H. Wilkinson as lead, also won the centre pans. From 1928 to 1934. his bowls gave way to fishing activities, but he celebrated his return to form at. the game in 1937 by finishing second to .T. C. Simpson fKaiapoi), for the Maddison trophy. He also played third in A. J. Itollinson's rink, which won the champion of champions event. An interesting phase of Mr Stcans's success is that although he has skipped the Opawa champion rink four times, it was on each occasion with different players. He still takes an active part in the game, and at present as third to Carl Madsen at Dunedin. he is having a lot to do with the fine record of seven wins and one loss put up by the rink at the big Dominion tournament. Mr Stenns is the donor of the cub plaved for annually by teams of eight links from North Canterbury and South Canterbury. The latter hold the cup at present, having won when th«» teams met at Timaru last December. This cup was given in 1920 Dominion Tournament Canterbury bowlers arc doing very well at Dunedin and they will be prominent when the finals are being played to-da.y. The absence of a strong North Island representation is noticeable, although it cannot be said that the standard of play has suffered because of that. While a few new names appear in post section play, tne majority can be identified as old stagers who are expected to get-there. Some others have fallen by the wayside unaccountably. It is interesting to note the positions of local bowlers at the tournament. In the singles, Alex. Day got to the eighth round; J. R. Smith. L. W. Besley, R. Henry, and C. J. Morrison to the seventh, and C. Shaw. H. T. Williams, W. H. Hampton, and E. Elsom failed at the sixth. In the doubles. C. Shaw. R. Haworth. and P Munn (Canterbury). W. Efford (Edgeware). J. Lowry. W. Grant, and H. P Donald (St. Albans), H. B. Oakey (Elmwood). F. Steans (Opawa), H. Wilson (Linwood) T. Chambers, and W. H. Hampton (Sumner), G. Spearman (Sydenham), R. A. Barnsdale (Christchurch) got through the section play. Many have been eliminated, and of the six pairs still playing. Canterbury now relies on three pairs These three are S J. Sneddon and HWilson (Linwood) J. R. Smith, and H. B. Oakey (Elmwood). and P. Delargey and P. Munn (Canterbury). The three local pairs and three Otago pairs will play the final Walker is an unknown quantity; but Longworth and Tyrrell are both seasoned, capable skips who will extend the Canterbury men. Performances during the tournament would suggest that the Roslyn skip is the more likely one to embarrass the Canterbury leaders. Runaway scores were not trequtn.but Canterbury players figured m some of them. In the singles, W. J. Plummer (Linwood) beat W. P. Smith (Grevmouth). 30-4. In the pairs, Lloyd (Caledonian) beat J. Ainger (Christchurch), 28-8. and W. J. Healey (Waii mate) beat H. Mayo (Napier). 34-7. H. Wilson's (Linwood) game in the» I second round of post section play m

the pairs was remarkable. At the ! tweny-second head, the scores were Wilson 23, Gladding (St. Kilda) 2. The latter then got 11 en two heads, bringing the totals to 25 to 13. The surprise of the tournament, to Canterbury bowlers at least, is the splendid showing by W. Britten's rink, Sydenham. It is composed of G. Gibson, J. Whyte. C. Spearman, and W. Britten, and must be playing steady bowls to win so consistently. With two lives still the rink must have a good chance of being in the final, and its win would be popular. Family rinks are not unusual. In the past we have had the Dewar rink from Timaru and the Skoglund from Wellington. At Dunedin this year there is the Edwards' rink from St Kilda. They qualified in section H with six wins, but got no further than the first two rounds of post-section playC. Tyrrell, of Roslyn club, is a forceful player and a well-known skip. He will be remembered for his good play on the St. Albans ereen two years ago when the finals of the tournament were being played there. Two Canterbury rinks went through the tournament without scoring a win. These were skinped by C. Craw ''Canterbury) and J. Wills (Imperial). It must not be taken as a measure of inferiority, however, as that pastmaster at the game. E. Harroway, secured only one win. as did another good player in Scandrett, of Invercargill. It would not surprise anyone if H. Wilson was to secure the Dominion rinks championship a second time. With the best players from Otago and Canterbury in each section, the play-off is almost certain to resolve into a South Island affair, with the winners hard to pick. The five two-lifers in the rinks—Aitcheson and Fostier "Otago), D. H. Thomson COamaru), Wilson and Britten (Can-terbury)-—must have a chance of outlasting* the one-lifers. Of course, the local men may have to play each other, but still their chances are good. Dr. Marks's Christchurch rink—S. Dixon, I. Woolf. R. A. Barnsdale, all seasoned campaigners—put out G. Madsen's Opawa rink in the eleventh round. The latter had H. Hey. W. Haigh. and F. Steans with him. Of the 15 rinks left in on Wednesday night, H. Wilson (Linwood) was the only previous winner of Dominion honours. The Edgeware rink played steady bowls. Divided in the pairs, D. Burns and W. EfTord reached the semi-final of their section, going under to the winner. C. Tyrrell (Roslyn). The other pair. S. Kennedy and J. Gagliardi, t qualified as section winners, but went out in the next game. Together m the rinks, they won seven of the eight games, but were beaten in the first two games of play on Wednesday. Club Notes The absence of leading players has retarded club competitions, but after this week the competitions will be pushed ahead, and we should soon be I in a position to indicate likely winners of club championships. For the same reason there has been no meeting of th.; centre this month. The Watson Shield has changed hands again, and is now held by Hewson's Imperial rink, which won it from Mealings" Kaiapoi team. The winners air H. Patton. R. McCulloch. C. James, and H. R. Hewson (s), and they will plav their noxt challenge from a Canterbury rink skipped by P. Munn. Two all-day tournaments are sc down for next week—Edgcware on Wednesday and Elmwood on Thursday. The former has been almost filled, and Elmwood has room for four rinks. Both greens are in good order and should have no difficulty in attracting the full complement of players. A game full of interest was played on the Canterbury green last week between a rink of club members and four former Post and Telegraph ofiicials. It was a close game, with scores fluctuating to the end. when the latter team won by 22 to 10. The Canterbury team was Bradley, L J Lewis, J. Angus, and McCormick (s). and the Post and Telegraph representatives. R. Reynolds. T. Thompson (of Wellington), J. R. Russell, and B. J. Finncgan (s>. of Christchurch. The following visiting bowlers have bt-cn playing bowls on the Canterbury green during the holidays. Each visiter is made an honorary member for a month and receives a card with the club's colours. The card is greatly appreciated, and serves as a memento of their visit to Christchurch. W. Willcox (Papatoetoe). J. P. Eccleton (Riverton), Joe Smith (Greymouth), C. H. Westfield (Dunedin). D. D. Stevenson (Taieri, Dunedin). H. Townley (Karori, Wellington), D. Harvey (Gore). Owen Green (Frankton Junction), T. E. Hudson (Nelson), T. P. Sewell (Dubbo, New South Wales).