THE LAST SHOOT

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 55, 6 March 1914, Page 10

THE LAST SHOOT

MASEFIELD FIRST-REST NOWHERE SOUNDS MAN MAKES NO RACE FOR BELT ' RECORD PERFORMANCE FOR , TRENTHAM. (From Otrr Special Reporters.) * "Masefield first— the rest nowhere!" feally sums up the Trentham Championship Rifle Meeting of 1914. The Belt wa 5 practically his when ho went down to shoot at the 1000 yds in the King's Prize Match, the last ghoot of the meeting. He ha<l a lead of eleven on the runner»ip, H. Lov&day, and only a. miracle of success 1 and failure' could have altered the position. If Loveday had made a possible, Masefield would still nave ibeaten him with A modest forty. The only chance of any change in the leadership wa£ a complete breakdown, on the jjart of tlie leader. Such things have happened before- with leads quite substantial, but Masefield was in good form yesterday morning in the Teams Champ, ionship match, and looked — and probably felt— as fii> as a fiddle for the afternoon. He is a man of quiet, almost ehy, temperament, /and once or twice in other bygone final matches has certainly snecumbed to stage fright. Be it not Sipoken too loudly. ' but Masefield is a hero to the. fairer setf, which is always strongly represented in the crowd behind hie place on the mounds on King's 'Prize daya^ and Iheif presence appears to have a little disconcerted him. This year there was no stage fright. There was probably never a better or a. cooler shoot in the final match. There was no liaste, no undue excitement, and the restilt was a total of 44;. which not only * assured Masefield the Belt, but increased ■liis lead by five points over the next man. It was the last touch to a splendid record. NOTHING SENSATIONAL. There was nothing sensational in the match. Minefield's lead had robbed it if;som"e ofits interest, but it.turned out, so far as actual shooting was concerned, to be easily the best King's Prize matcli in the records of Trentham. Scores of forty ami over are exceedingly rare on stich, occasions, and one remembers matches^ Where* there were no forties at all. This time the leader pufc on 44, the runner-up 40, Oliver 45. and ex-Champion L.) Loveday 46. which brought him from forty-fourth place to twenty-fifth, and ijaite retrieved his earlier misfortunes in the series. His father, George Loveday, who was the unlucky 13 in the Grand Aggregate, dropped, with one of the poorest scores, 24, to thirty-fourth place. Thus the movements in the Loveday Jamily barometer in trie fifty cotnpensat,id one another. L. Loveday incidentally won the Rifle Challenge Cdp, a massive piece of silver plate, for ' th« highest range total in the King's Prize match. a.. A. Oliver's score of 46 was opportune in restoring the balance, bringing him from eleventh to fifth place and redeem* ing some of his failures in the long ranges which had earlier lost him his lead over Masefield. GOOD SHOOTING, ' To return to the actual shooting, de< tails of, which are given in ten shots recorded in the prize list, the marksmanship showed a high average. A. Cald■well, of Karori, with 21, lost the most, coming down from twenty-third place to •forty-eighth. There were other ups and downs, but ther general position was really unaltered in any great degree, tSome of the men shot slowly and with fexcessive deliberation, excessive because sat did nnt^ pay. The first man to finish I was T. King, of Inglewood, who made 134, but L. Loveday was not long afterward with his 46, and Oliver's 46 was $|trick to come. However', the shooting 'was not quick enough for The Post to ("announce last night all the Final Fifty with scores. The rifles Were still speakang as your reporters telephoned in the leading results which appeared. The match can best be studied by the figures in the prize list, with compari•sons of previous aggregates given. There were few challenges, and an almost total 'lack of incident. It was soon seen that i.Masefield could not lose, and when it 'was all over he was chaired round and 'round, with the accompatiiment of en'.tliusiastic cheers. Thus, so far as the ■sitooting was Concerned, the curtain was ,i'ang down on the meeting of 1914, As 'one writes the camp is practically deserted. The riflemen have nearly all igone ', there are a few industrioos presstmen present, finishing a Week of streniuous work, and some of the staff, who ■are to remove the tents, are itching to 'get to work. One cannot conclude without a word of thanks to the Post and Telegraph officers, under Mr, A, M. G. •.Wara._ postmaster of the camp office, tand his staff, whose unfailing courtesy, 'Consideration, and desire to ex-'•U-emely difficult conditions have incalculably facilitated the work of the pressmen. But for this spirit on the part of the Postal officers it would be quite '.impossible to do justice to the meeting, ,-fout they have spared no pains to do the Wevy best they possibly can for the and also for everybody who [has business with them in camp. There &s no more popular institution at Trent•hani than the Camp G.P.O. Thanks" tare also due for the general facilities -given by the Statistical Staff, and to Major Mabin, the Camp Quartermaster, Mio every year does all he can to make the lot of the workers and riflemen in »<!a«ip as comfortable as possible. All 'these things leave very pleasant mem•ories of championship meetings at 'Trentham. THE KING'S PRIZE MATCH. 1000 yards; 10 shots. Open to the fifty highest aggregate scorers in the matches known as the Belt series. King's Grand Prize. Agg. I— Pres. Wi N. Masefield, Sounds R..C. (Champion "Belt, gold medal, gold badge, and £28)— 581 -6135454465 44 625 2— Lieufc. H. Simmonds, Railway 'Corps, Blenheim (Silver Star, D.R.A. Badge, and £16)— 569— 5442434465 40 609 B— Rflm, H. Lovedat, Ohura R.C. (Silver Star, D.R,A, Badge. and J312)— 570— 43520b 4453 „ 35 606 4— Mm. J. W. Milroy, Nelson R.C. (Silver Star. D.R.A. Badge. and £9 125)— 564— 254 5524525 39 603 $— Rflm. A. A, Oliver, Ohura R.C. (D.R.A. Badge and £4)— 553— 5654535454 45 598 6—Rflffi. J, Given. Suburbs R.C- (D.R.A. Badge .tnd £4)— 559— 4645326524 39' 598 7— Rflm. W. M'lver, Te Awamutu R.C (D.R.A. Badge and £4)— 563— 3345345555 42 595 B— Rflm. G. A. Eyles, Dannevirke fi.C. (D. 11. A. Badge and £4)— 550-5643535534 43 692