BOWLING

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 156, 30 December 1925, Page 16

BOWLING

■Y 'NUMUII TWO. 1

The Centre Tournament

Judging by appearances at the time of writing the Centre Tournament should conclude to-morrow afternoon. Fortunately the weather, though threatening at times, has held good up to the present, thus making it possible to get through the section play without trouble. The gusty wind has been somewhat difficult for players to contend with, but the greens generally have been good, although there has been some comment on the trickincss of some of the rinks on the Wellington green. In all probability, however, the final will be played there as the parent club has all the requisite accommodation for the convenience of visitors and players. The officials administering the tournament are to be congratulated on the smoothnet ,j with which the whole of the arrangements have been carried out. There has not been one flaw, at any rats, i* there has "No. 2" has not heard of it, so Messrs. 8. M. Stone (president) and B. W. Shallcrass (secretary) are entitled to the best thanks of competitors for the excellent way in which, up to the present, every thing has gone off.

It was with deep regret that competitors and bow'ers generally' heard of the sudden death on Monday night of Mr'. B. Newton, who was playing No. 3 for Mr. J. Caughley (Kelburn). Mr. Newton played his three games on Monday and appeared «to be well at the end of the day's play, and news of his death came as a great shock to his rink mates. The sympathy of all bowlers will be extended to the late bowler's relatives and to the Kelburn ' Clnb, of which he^was an esteemed member.

As the game of bowls js -full' of surprises it would be too ruky to hazard a prognostication as to which teams.will be in the final, but at present Russell (Newtown), j. J. Roberts (Wellington), Noad (Lyall Bay),' Ramsay (Hataitai) appear to be going well. ; Of: course, anything can happen yet, but it is quite certain that the concluding stages of the tournament are going to be full of interest. •Jhe Season's Greetings. I Mr. John Spenee, president of the I Australian Bowling Conncil, and Mr. James Wall, president of the New South Wales Bowling Association, for' ward through these. columns the season's greetings-to the bowlers of New Zealand,' The British Bowlers. The British bowling party will be arriving in Wellington on Friday week from the North, en route for Dunedin. In'the course of an interrj.ew with the Auckland "Star" on arrival, Mr. George Wright, of the Kettering Lodge Club, Northampton, and captain of the British bowling team, stated that bowls was going ahead very strongly at Home. "When yon come to'consider," he saidy "that, in 1919, the English Bowling Association had 222 affiliated clubs, and now ii~ has 820 clubs, with over 100,000 players, yon can understand the progress that has been made." Just to prove that bowling, despite the popular belief, is not altogether an "old mail's game," Mr. Wright mentioned that in 1924 the champion of England was aged 25, and this year the champion. 1 was 26 years of age. The bowlers had a very strenuous time in Australia, Where they won. 22 games, lost 17, and tied in 2. The figures for "shots'* were: For 5158/'against* 5078, which gave the Britishers a margin of 80 up. Mr. Wright pointed out that the team visiting New Zealand was not really representative of British bowlers, for, out of the 80 men who took part in the International Games in 1924, only three had come to the Dominion. These were Messrs. W. F- Wade, W. Minto, and W. CrawfoTd. "Had we waited to get a representative team, we should never have come here," said Mr. Wright. "We had to get the men who could spare the time. ; It was impossible for all best men to get j away." ' After having met the cream nof Auckland's bowlers in notion laet week, Mr. Wright told the "New Zealand Herald" that the Auckland players were 1 exceedingly keen and had nothing to learn about the fame. Aggression appeared to be their watchword, and they seemed to specialise in fast play. The visitors relied more on the draw and what might be termed the conventiont.l game. - After touring the North Island, Mr. Wright said the visitors intended to take part in the Dominion tournament in Dunedin. Moat of the players had entered and some good teams would take the field against the pick of New Zealand ' players. By the time the Dominion tour-. , nament was due Mr. Wrighj; expected I the members of his party to have de- | veloped their best form. That might not bci good enough to wie, he said, 1 but nothing would delight '-.hem more I than/to have a team in the final.

The "New Zealand Herald's" bowling writer ("Skip") say that no doubt csisU as to the British players' ability to draw a good shot, and in a lesser degree to play a rather fast one on occasions. The absence of the drive is a noticeable feature. The average age of the party is 55 years, the oldest member being aged 78 and the youngest 33. Mr. Walter Wake ("W;>lly Wide- | awake")', manager of the Biitjsh team, | wears a mascot hat when playing bowls, i Although it looks as if it bad been pick: ,ed out of a dustbin, "Wally" would sooner lo*Q his' luggage than his old hat. Like all good sporting combinations when on.tour, the British bowlers have a song which i»« produced on special occasions. To' thß* tunt ol "Men of Harlech," the Britishers render the following:—:. :

Men of Anzac, now we greet you, We are bowlers glad to meet you 1, Wel have come to try to beat you, British bowlers all. '

Though the wind be blowing, Free from bias if you'll try us, We .are not given to crowing— Men of Anzac, now we greet yon. We are bowlers, glad to meet you, We have to come to try to beat you, Kritish bowlers all.

Two other songs they give are "Prairie Flower," "Merry" Had a Little Lamb,' 1 and they wind up with a very good imitation of a Maori haka.

Mr. John W. MacDougall is the choirmaster.

Dominion' Champions Go Down.

One of the surprises of the British bowlers' visit, so far has been the defeat of lliu rihk wliich the Dominion tournament last 1 January. Wernhara, Wilson, M'lntyre, and Pitkington. Ihe Tedoubtable Hamilton fnur, went down to Hobbs, AVhitaker, Edncy, and Wade h\ 18 points to 17. As the score indicjtfia, the game ,must have been a very cWo one. Commenting on the result ."Trundlexj" in the "Auckland BUr,'

remarks: "Thii juat flluitratei the uncertainty of bowls. Here is a team which sets the seal on a long string cf previous victories by winning the Dominion championship last January at Wellington, and then they lose to a. team of visitors, skipped by a man who thus registers his first win since he came to New Zealand, although credited with the championship of England on one occasion. Surely there is no game, which shows such inconsistencies as bowls." Oldest Bowling Club. Which bowling club has the honour of being the oldest in the Antipodes! That is the question. Writing in the "Star" anent certain remarks made at the civic reception to the British tourists, '' Trundler'' says:—'' With regard to Auckland being the oldest club in New Zealand, which probably ■. means the oldest out of the British Isles, it would be as well to definitely j remove a misapprehension that might be gathered from some references that have been made. The club was founded in 1861, and play commenced in 1862, but this is not by any means the oldest "green" in Australasia, if one may be allowed to use that unpopular term to describe the British Dominions in the South Pacific. The oldest "club" in Australia is the Melbourne, situated at Windsor, three miles out of the city, which was founded in 1864, but the oldest "green" was constructed in 1848 at Hobart, and' newspaper files fully establish the claim that it was actually in use on 28th October of that year, while the - wording implies, although not definitely states, that it had been also used in previous years. There is also fairly good proof Df a green in Sydney in 1854. A green at Norfolk Island goes back even .further, for they played there in the old convict days, and although the actual date is not established it is believed that the green was made in the early thirties of list century. Then there is all the evidence of bowls being played by the Maoris at Tauranga, not on the fine green which is used by the club whose representatives are playing at Bcmuera this afternoon, but probably on the beach, and very fine specimens of the bowls which t they used have been presented, to the Auckland aqd Wellington museums by Mr".'G. A- Semadeni, a former president of the Dominion Road Bowling Club, who discovered about a dozen of them while he was stationed at Tauranga. They were buried deep in the sand, and as the present race of Maoris have no traditions about them it has to be assumed that the game was only played by their predecessors, the race who inhabited New Zealand prior to 50JD years ago. When our distinguished .visitors'write up their memoirs of'their trip round the world it will greatly interest the present generation of bowlers in the Dominion if they will include the historical records of the foundation of this ancient game, which' da^es tack into the dim ages before tennis, and-golf were invented. Fortunately everybody knows that it was played in 1588, for Drake immortalised the game by his famous match at Plymouth Hoe, and that there is still in existence the club at Southampton, where they still play on the very green which was con* itructed in 1299; But outside these outstanding facts the local knowledge is very hazy, although there was once published'a list showing that of the hundreds of clubs now flourishing, in the British Isles only five were founded prior to the Auckland Club, besides 38 in Scotland, and one in Ireland.