THE RIFLE CHAMPIONSHIP MEETING.

Evening Post, Volume LXIX, Issue 55, 7 March 1905, Page 5

THE RIFLE CHAMPIONSHIP MEETING.

FOURTH DAY'S SHOOTING. GILLANDERS WINS THE CANTER BURY MATCH. RAIN STAYS PROCEEDINGS, (From Our Special Reporter.) TRENTHAM, Monday.. Worse conditions could hardly be im« •agined than those under which shooting was done to-day. The rain was very; light when operations began aka quarter 'to 8 a.nu, but.from the time the 500 yds range was begun the rain feftnnore heavily until it had increased to torrential heaviness. Yet tho men were kept ab work, in orderto finish tlio match, which, was completed by noon. The laet men "down" h»d to lie in pools of water* Shootista, 'scorers, and markers all had a most disagreeable timo of it. Collecting score* was an impossible task for tha "recording angels," as tho figures wcra rapidly washed off the boards. Somo ex. cc.lent shooting was done, despite the wretched conditions prevailing. GiUanders put on five bulls and two iuners ; Milroy, whose performances aro now watched with clow Attention, got within a point, of the possible. Milroy's sigiiting-shot also went through the bull's-eye. Private Mills, of Dunedin, who is a comrade of Gillanders, the winner of the match, put od 31, his other two ranges yielding 33 each. Private W. Gillanders, the winner of the Canterbury Match, is a member of the Dunedin City Guards, and has re* fleeted credit on his corps as a marks* man during thi.s season. He is the pres» cut holder of the South Island Challenge Cups. The following were hi* targets i» the match, which he won with a score of 60 ° yds. 200 yds.

500 yds.

Not one of the competitors had A- mora exciting time- than Sergf. Skelly, of tho D Battery, Wellington. He cam© back on Saturday afternoon from the 600 yds ran go With a nicely-made 31, and lie opened thie morning's proceedings at the 200ydJi Ifo. lance with a possible, made under As-urib ward conditions as a miul could dodß^ Skelly was a much-envied man ns he vrtsA to the final distance (500 yds) with 66 o\»e of » possible 70 to his credit. When i&. became, known that he had put on flwj successive bull's-eyes during a torrent of rain, Skelly stock in tho Caterbury Mate& went right up. With a scoro of 91 an& two thots to go, and 98 "<ihe main," it looked the D Battery man's day out tog a record. But the "wind beat him, and to his uhutteruble. disgust ho found tha outermost left edge of the target with his next diot, and tho "inaggio" with his last—total, 96. Skelly's three targets make interesting pictures: — GOOvds. 200vds.

600 yds.

Tho CVmtcrbuiy niaicli was won last year by Corpl. E. F. Sandford with a score of 100.' No shooting was done-during. the afternoon, an tho heavy lain did not ceaso unril after 5 o'clock. Rthnn. 13. R. Bunny, formerly of Master ton, who is now 'a citizen of Dawson City, Yukon, Canada., took part in thefirst four matches at. tho present meeting. In the Canterbury Match he did fairly well wilh 88. He had to- cut short his visit to Trenthain when he had an aggregate of 335, to catch the Sin Francisco mailboab at Auckland. Mr. Runny has been spending a threo months' holiday amongst his own people.