RANGE GOSSIP.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 144, 12 March 1908, Page 5

RANGE GOSSIP.

It is not'oftcn that a marksman can grata bull's-eye givcii. him marker-;has recorded a miss.. This : happened, howeverj t-o Rifleman Milroy, (ex : champion),' 'of Nelson, at the 1000 yards range in the Canterbury Match. The marker recorded ;a blank , for his ninth shot. : Milroy challenged him, and on examination- of the' target thdjrangcolficcr' received the telephone message, bull'seye. There Vas-.a- round of applause! as Milroy-pocketed his half-crown fee,-and | rang on another' bull. ~ ' i Tho'veterans of the meeting are Colonel Collins, whoso"; record'"dates .back, to 1S71"; Lieutenant-Colonel Smith, champion' in 1894; : who attended his, first meeting in'lß76'; and Private Harding, of' the Blenheim 1 Rifles, whoso'first meeting was also in 4876. Tho total amount of prize-money.'Resen-ted at the Trentham. Meeting, ,in addition to trophies, was £1482. Captain, King, of Linwood, has now won tho Union Company's Cup twice,- in -1899'iand--1908. The trophy must be won twice in succession, or three times at intervals. ; Captain King has,;'.therefore, to -win: it-ouce again before it becomes his own property ■ The chances are,- however, , that. , tho • Cup will long continue in competition before \it i!> entirely:won; owing to tho fact,that it'can only' bo won' by tho highest aggregate ■ m throe big .matches (Nos. 1, 2, and,3). The Cup was first in 18S2, and. the winners of earlier years are not now,actively engaged at 'iflo shooting. Parslow, wlio .is at the present meeting, is au.exception. ,:Ho won tho trophy in 1885. Of the present-day shots, in addition to Captain King, Hydo is recorded' as : having won , the trophy in 1903, Loveda'y in 1904, Milroy 'in 1905, and A. J. Cameron in-1907.

Sorgoants M'Calley. and Edwards, 'of Australia, by tho timo tlioy have returned to tho Commonwealth, will havo travelled roughly 2470 miles. Amongst the New Zcalarid.com-. petitors, those who will liavo travelled farthest by tho time they mil . havo returned ,to their homes aro. Lieutenant Edgecumbo and ■Rifleman Wallace, of Kokukoltu, a total .distance of 1290 miles; Rifleman . Moslem!of Kaeo, will havo gono 1250. miles; and Lieutenant Salmon and Sergeant Moss,, of; tho Bluff, 1234 miles. These competitors represent tho farthest north and the farthest south of tho soldiers of tho Dominion;