RIFLE SHOOTING

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22319, 5 February 1938, Page 7

RIFLE SHOOTING

* TOURS BY NEW ZEALAND TEAMS SUCCESSES IN AUSTRALIA The New Zealand rifle team which is now in Sydney to take part in the sesquicentenary matches of the National Rifle Association of New South Wales, beginning at the Anzac range, Sydney, to-day, is considered to be an exceptionally wellbalanced side, and great hopes are entertained for its success at this greatest gathering of Empire marksmen. The team is led by the well-known rifleman. Captain W. N. Masefield. The Sydney meeting promises to be of exceptional interest bv reason of the presence of overseas teams, including the team from England, which will be seen in action during the Wairarapa Rifle Association’s championship meeting at Trentham this month. The first real Empire match in which the Dominion team engaged was the Kolapore Cup at Bisley in 1897. the team being sent by the Government in connexion with the diamond jubilee of Queen Victoria. Only three points separated the winners, Victoria, from the New Zealand team at this meeting. Several years later a New Zealand team won the Kolapore Cup, much of the team’s success being due to Sergeant J. W. Ching (Nelson), First Visit to Australia. The first team from New Zealand to visit Australia did so at the time of the Melbourne Exhibition in the late eighties. Following defeat at Melbourne. the Victorians set to work and sent over a splendid team to New Zealand to take part in the championship meeting held at the time of the New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition at Dunedin in 1890. The range was at Wingatui, now the home of the Dunedin Jockey Club. New Zealand led by eight points at the close of the second range, but collapsed at the final and suffered defeat by 37 points. Captain Hanley was then Victoria’s most notable shot and he oap-

lained his team and headed all the marksmen, scoring 127 out of the possible 150. In 1896 at the championship meeting at Oamaru, three Australian state teams came across the Tasman to represent Victoria, New South Wales, and Queensland. Queensland (1554 points) won, with New Zealand (1519) second, New South Wales (1512) third, and Victoria (1490) fourth. Fourteen years elapsed before another Australian team came to New Zealand, although in the interval three Dominion, teams were sent to Australia—in 1895. 1901 (founding of tha Commonwealth), and 1909. The team was from New South Wales. While the Dominion teams had been beaten in Australia, the tables were turned in 1910. Two days were required to complete this match, and New Zealand won easily, scoring 2043 points to 1932. There was a long gap to the next visit of an Australian team, which was in 1928. Recent Tours The 1929 Dominion team which went to Sydney was led by DeputyPresident H. T. Marshall, one of the leading personalities of New Zealand shooting, and an executive officer who rendered great service to Dominion marksmen. Other members were: Captain Masefield. Captain Simmonds (Paeroa), Riflemen C. Whiteman (Upper Hutt), T. H.' Boon (Karori). A. V. Swanson (Karori), W. Mclver (Petone), F. James (Napier), D. Keir (Ashburton). D. Roots (Patea), H. Feast and J. Feast (Greytown), and B. Piper (Christchurch). Several other competitors travelled with the team, including Nix. the present The individual successes ver* numerous. James won the first match]* Mclver won the “Argus” and “Australasian” aggregates, Roots was first in the Templeton match. Keir won the Sargood match, and H. Feast scored 102 out of 105 in the first stage of the King’s match, and was second. In the second stage James was second with 92 out of 100. In the final Keir made 49 and ran into second place. In the teams’ events. New Zealand won the service match, scoring 313 to Victoria's 300, Tasmania’s 166. and South A'istralia’s 146. The Dominion team >ost the big teams' match, fired under Kelapore Cup conditions by one point only from the Victorians.