RIFLE CHAMPIONSHIP

Evening Post, Volume CII, Issue 149, 21 December 1921, Page 8

RIFLE CHAMPIONSHIP

TO BE HELD IN FEBRUARY

MEETING AT GREYTOWN,

Riflo shooting cnthueiasts throughout the Dominion will be gratified at the announcement that it has been decided to hold the New Zealand Rifle Championship Meeting in conjunction with the Wairarapa Association's Meeting at the Papawai Range, Greytown, in February next. The meeting will open on Thursday, 23rd February, and will last for six days. It will lie remembered that the Government decided, on the grounds of economy, not to extend the usual facilities for the big D.R.A. Meeting to lie held at Trentham.

Requests were received from all over New Zealand that the championship should not be abandoned, and last night a conference was held between representatives of the D.R.A. and the Wairarapa Rifle Association, with the result that it was determined to hold the meeting at Greytown.

The following executive was appointed to superintend the gathering:—Colonel R. J. Collins, C.M.G., chairman; President IT. T. Marshall, M.C., and President W. G. Fellingham, representing the D.R.A. ; President V. Donald, Deputy-president R. J. King, and Depuly-prcnTucnt C. Nix, representing the Wairarapa Association. Mr. A. L. Webster, of Greytown, who has been secretary of the Wairarapa Association for years past, will be secretary of the meeting, and will be assisted by lieutenant G. B. Williamson, of the LVR.A.

Tim programme will comprise eight matches and. two aggregates, and prise money will total upwards ?f £1200. As was intended in the D.R.A, programme, tiiß first prize in each match will he £10, £50 being the first prize for the Kind's Frize Match. The object of the meeting being to maintain a lively interest in rifle shooting, Mr. Arthur Ballinger has kindly consented to the fiallinger Belt being fired for at the meeting. The Rifle Challenge Cup, Carbine Cup, C.A.C. Shield, and the- C.A.C. Cup will also be competed for. Tlie programme is being based on an entry of 300, but,competitors will have to pa/y all their, own expenses, including railway fares and ammunition. Entries will dose on 16th February. The target to be used for the New Zealand championship will t>e the. "tin hat" target, -which is now the standard Service target for the British Regular Army. Old range officers who have rendered yeomen service to the D.R.A. almost since its inception, have been invited to attend the meeting, including Colonel R. Hughes, T'D., of Wanganvi, Colonel Cresswell, and Captain Magill. (