On the Greens

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 22, 26 January 1924, Page 18

On the Greens

PENNANTS RESUMED

REACHING FINAL, STAGES

THE DOMINION TOURNAMENT.

(By '.'Number Two.")

SBJfIOB PEX-tfAKTS.

After an interval of several weeks, the fifth'round of the Pennant games is due to be played to-day. . The fourth round was played on 15th December. In Section B, Newtown and Kelburn, both rath unbeaten records, are to meet, and. in Section A Victoria, whip ha.ye, had no losses to date, are to meet Lyall Bay, who have sustained only one defeat. After this round, has been 'played,, there - should be a fair, indication as to which clubs are likely to beat-the head of the respective • sections, as only two more rounds have- to be played—the sixth on 9th February, and the seventh on 23rd February.

The interval in the Pennants should have given the clubs an opportunity to. get their club games well forward, in order that the champions will be able to compete in the champion of champion contests next month.' The date for the champion of champion matches arc as follow :—Singles, 20th February; pairs, 27th February; rinks, sth March.

TEAMS AT CHRISTCHURGH.

Although none of the 'Wellington teams have been successful in winning any of the competitions. at,,the Dominion tournament at'Chriatchurch, a number have been very prominent in the contests. In the rinks it was only after a trial of the best two out of three games that Bremner/ of West End, was able to beat Wylie, of Newtown. ,The next three positions were all held by teams from this centre—namely, those skipped by Gray, of Kelburn; Fielding, m Hataitai; and. Stephens, o f Kelburn. Wylie and Brackenridge hung on in the pairs until almost the final stages, and Fielding was only defeated in the singles in the semi-final.

The tournament in Christchurch this year has extended over a considerablelength of time, and there is a. growing feeling among bowlers that-'it would be a wise ining in future to cut out the pairs and singles, and confine the Do'minnn tournament entirely to rink games The feeling in .this direction is probably stronger now than it has been before and when the headquarters of the D : E.A. are- moved to Wellington next year it is probable that some resolution favouring the adoption, of this system will be placed before the. Dominion Council.

WelhngtQn "bowlers who have returned iromChrjstchurch speak very well of the management, of the tsurnamept except those who favour- a more strict observance of the laws of the game, and wish to see players, appear wearing the uniform of their respective clubs -It is stated that the umpires were not very strict w, U , the players, and that-a num ker qf competitors took part who.did not wear flannels or- their club colours.

THE SINGLES CHAMPION.

The most, discussed bowler at the Donumqn- tournament is the veteran W CaK»vell from the Taieri Club, who won «ie singles championship. He is the hero °f many a hard-fought game in bygone tournaments., and, after- participating for P\er thirty years in first-class bowl!, he is at present playing as well- as ever He played with remarkable skill in his two npal games lor green winner on the JVdpwai'e green, on Thursday, afternoon, Wd his play was, quite an education to the younger generation of bowlers who were looking on. . The- following is a ]j s t of . s i ng ] es champions :~ 8 \ 1914—Carlton, J. Kilgour. HI 5— Ponaonby, M. Walker. m&^rßoslyn, E. Fountain. xaia—Caledonian, W. Foster 3— Ponso,iby, M. Walker. " 192O^Dunedin, E. Hai-raway J' Sf- BniCkenridee. 19ffi2-r-North-Kast Vallsv, J. C'.-'Eigby 1923-Ponfiqnb.y, U. Walker. . 1924—Taievi, W. Carswell

BOWL TESTINQ.

The questiqn of bowl testing is one which has created a considerable amount of discussion in this centre, and it was ■expected that something would be done at tne meeting of, the Dominion Council to arrive at some permanent system of testing bowls throughput the .Dominion. So far very little information has been available as to the decisions arrived at by tho D.B.^i. council. The standard, bowls were assembled, and it is understood that they were fqrwarded to Wellington to be compared by the taWe test, after which jv' green test was to be made in Dunedin. No authentic information With respect to the tests.in Wellington is to"hand,-but. it has been reported that at least half of the standard bowls used did not come up to the test of the standard bowl used jn Wellington. Thip may in some measure account for the fact- that bowls failing to pass in Wellington bijve done so in other centres without alteration. Surely Wellington Centre- has been justified in the action that it has taken in this matter of bowl testing, and the sooner the matter is- placed upon a satisfactory basis the hettcr it will be for everyone. One thing; the' D.B'.-A. should do "is to recommend, bowlers, not to purchase bowls unless they have tWn stamped— but perhaps it would be wise to desist

malqug a recommendation of this kind until some' semblance of uniformity in standard bowls uas been reached.'

A VISIT FROM NELSON?

n . T'}F ee rinka fl'om Nelson arrived iv Wellington last, and are remaining over tins week-end. A number of games had been arranged for them both morning and afternoon, as it was desired that the visitors should have an opportunity of tesfing as many of the 'Wellington greens as possible. They had a'beautiful day at Khaudallah on Tuesday, but up to the time of writing, the weather has been unfavourable. They have visited a number of greens, however, and even if they have not been able to play they have been able to exchangethe courtesies for which the world of bowling js renowned.

RUMOUR FROM DUNEDIN.

A rumour is on foot that Dunedin is endeavouring to have the next Dominion tournament held there ' instead of in Wellington, because, the South Seas inhibition will then be in progress. It is unlikely that any change will be made m the locale of the tournament, more especially as bowlers from the North who have this year made one trip to the South Island will not be anxious to go __ farther, south- next' year. No doubt a South Island tournament woujd be-an additional attraction ' for the Dungdin Exhibition, and it so' happens that it will.be permissible for the. 1 South Island, to run a tournament; next year when the Dominion gathering is being held iutho North Mimd. .. ' ■

WOOD QR COMPOSITION?

The following is the opinion^of "Blue Disc," the Sydney " Sun's " writer, on composition and wooden bowls :-^" You ] ■cannot achieve bowling glory without I being equipped with the best in bowls. •Lasti. season the 'number of bowlers in New South Wales increased by appvpxi- I mately 1000. To accommodate these- recruits about 2000 additional*- pairs of bovyls. would be brought into action, and it is quite an the.cards that'a number of ' dud ' bowls; have been resurrectedOne has'never yet seen a champion bowler whose bowling- implements djd not reflect character, and the novice is advised to procure his bowls under the guidance of experienced piaye,rs. The prejudice against other than lignum vitae bowls is rapidly, vanishing, and. whereas ten years ago composition bawls were" practjpally unknown, to-day the 'compos' share the-greens-with' their brother ' woods.-! The main reason for the increpaing. popularity of the composition bowls is that e^ch year it has become increasingly difficult to obtain, seasoned lignum vitae bowls of ■ satisfactory weight. To secure a weight of, say, bib 4jz, on c is forced to play with a bowl thab is really too large tq be handled comfortably; au d to' use bowls that you cannot grip thoroughly, without undue discomfort is fatal to howling success. Many a promising; player's progress has been: retarded through ..ignorance as to this prime essential to success in howls. To secure increased weight, many player* have- had their wooden ■ bowls loaded. In this connection New"" Soutii. Wales is fortunate in possessing an expert, who has transformed light, characterless woods into bowls that on perfect greens'are almost ideal. On rough or heavy greens the loaded bowl is fa* from effective, and the possessor of such class : of bowl is heavily handicapped! The' opinions of a large number of our foremost players have been sought as to what they consider the ideal bowl. Singularly' enough, the opinions were practically unanimous—a narrow grip ball, full 3. bias size 5' l-16.th, weight. 31b 3pz to 31b 4pz' Composition billiard baJJs have ■ quite i superseded ivory, ami whether composi.tion bowls have come to stay it is diffijcult to forecast, Still, it .is gratifying to know that composition "bowls equal to the world's best caa he produced in Australia."

DOGS AT BOWLS.

One of the features of. the week-end, play on the Eastbourne Bowling Green is the antics of Mr. Leo Cimino's fox terrier 'Scamp,'' who invariably accompanies his master to the green. Nothing gives the- dog more pleasure than to b e allowed to play with one of the bowls lying about, which he pushes withhis nose around the banks of the green If nthj bowl should be. accidentally, propelled py him on to the playing, area, ''Scamp patiently, waits for.. a Tnndlydisposed player—and they, are all his friends—to deposit the bowl again on the bank, so that, he can once mpr<> play with it and talk to it in the canine tongue. "Scamp" is a well-trained dog, and he knows that he mus.t on no apcount trespass on the sacred playing are,T. ;

The latest fish story comes from Wanganui, but this time the fish, happens to be a dog, and several bowling enthusiasts vouch fop its accuracy, as occueing recency in one, of their matches. A really bad bowl was. played,, which'fiji, ished wide and short. A small dog ap.T peared cm the sceqe, ani promptly diagr nosed it as a case, of bad play, so it degr nosed it gently along, in a niqst busi-ness-like way, until it rested against the jack. As it had not been touched by the side to whom-it belonged (in terms of -rule XV., 2, A) nor by an opponent (in terms-of clause b),. nor by a neutral ''person" (in terms of-clause e)'it was declared alive, and the shot wa.s counted!

Most people are .familiar with the old story of a mythical aboriginal who was judge at a race meeting,'- and who was horrified to find the -wrong, horse in front. He got out of his prospective financial difficulty by declaring., as they came up the straight, "Kapai another round." This incident had its mtodern counterpart on a certain bowling green the other day. In the,first round of the pairs championship one pair of competitors found themselves without time to play the full 21 heads, so'they mutually decided to settle it in 11 heads. They tied on the 11th head, and played off qne more to decide. The card was, put in, after being signed by both.skips. On the following Saturday the losersfound that on account of the wet weather early in the season the tiipe had been extended for a week-, so they promptly insisted on playing off the remaining nine hea.ds ; The Winners thought it a bit over the odds,' hut consented to the suggestion, rather, than make a fuss, and lost the match. Apparently there is something in the old Maori strategy after all, but bowlers could find plenty of characteristics in our tatboed friends far more worthy of imitation than the example of the legendary judge.

The greenkeepers of the. Wellington Centre held their annual meeting in the Wellington Club Pavilion. Mr. Earje, president, occupied the chair, and welcomed the newly-appointed greenkeepers o f. the different clubs, and, in speaking of the work performed during- his term of office, said he was quite sure that,the consolidating of the different ideas had been, very helpful to all the members cf the association. He wished to thank all who bad worked to mnke the gatherings such a success, especially. Mr.- G. S. G.omaz, who had given much advice and instructive lectures during the winter rer o«ss. The business of the evening was the election of officers. Mr. Wheeler \va? unanimously elected prosidt&.t, and Air. Hall-Smith (Newtown) was re-elect-ed hen. secretary. It was decided .to hold the*annual picnic at Eastbourne on 29th January. After votes of thnnks had been passed to the retiring officers, the ijecti-.ig was adjourned to 22nd Jan-

Win?.Lyall Bay 3 Victoria i Wellington 2 Hataltai 1 Karon ! Seatoiin 1 Island Biy I Losses. 1 0 1 3 3 Section B. Hutt 3 Kelburn 3 Newto-wn 3 Petone 2 Central 1 Iliorndon 0 Johnsonville \ 0 1 0 0 1 3 3 4 ' JUNIOR PEKSASIS. Section A. W ns. Tohn^ouvilla 3 Ivelbuin 2 riioriKion 2 Central 2 Victoria 1 1'etotie . 1 losses. i 2 1 2 3 Section B. Seatoun 2 Lyall Day. 2 Newtown , 2 Island Bay" '. 1 Karori 1 r i i 2 S