N.Z. RIFLE ASSOCIATION.

Evening Star, Issue 11511, 30 March 1901, Page 3

N.Z. RIFLE ASSOCIATION.

V HOW; THE "BELT'WAS WON. M*ttfe 4Afe 'stage (ten shots at .700 yards). was -begun yesterday morning. Nelson’jivasTG pomtsi:behind).his“club-, .n^tej,Witebn, , :ahd.rmis>prbßpecti'of: winning cpTOtW .trophy waS' nbt k seriously con- ■ eidered, . However, . with his .first five shots :he (brought. up the,i&bulb?Udisc( and l , when; : those then on ;top-bad ifired ashnilarrium-i her of shote the aggregates were s—Wilson • 550, King.:M9,:vArthyr Ballingeri 548,--and Nelson-i547.| 3- W; Loveday: was/fiftlv with : 546. ..Nelson i had-ifotnd ‘the /spot; 'and.i lie plugged on three more" “ bulls. ’ ’ Then , lie got l on 'inner, and'finished up with a" bull;’’ making a .second store'’in >: Newt Zealand of 49 out' of 50"in a ten-shot•'in&tch ;! at l 7oo yards. • ■ This, ‘too/’ with-the tension ■qf shooting; for ' one ' of } the - most coveted trophies iri New Zealand; and ■being so iriariy points Ballinger was; 1 perhaps, one ot the ! first to finish : in the and 'he' was then' seobnd tb Nelspri' with 670. King finished up with three 'magpies,' and left - with- his aggrepite at 566, "dr 3 points behind Nelson and one behind; Ballinger, while he tied' with W. ’ Loveday/ who had made 57 against his 36, WithNelson’s total at 570, Ballinger’s 567, Loveday’s and King’s 566, J. G. Wilson had ; still four shots to' go,, and there Vasa, chance'that the old rtager-would hold his position'; but he scored 3,'4, 3, 5, and,lost the belt by 1 point. W. Loveday and King, tied for. fourth place, the former winning, in the shoot off. Humphreys and Okey.rtied for sixth place, the former winning, LLO YD-LINDS AY COMPETITION. ’ |

With the belt decided, the rest of < the; day was devoted to tlie mounted men’s j competition. Hastings won the LlbydLindsay with a score of' 210. The Alex-; andra Cavalry were second with 186, ‘jand! Wairoa next with 182. In the loading and: firing contests the Hastings men were again on top, making 191, the Wairoa teams j tieihg with 183 for second and third' places. ! Very little interest was taken in these con-1 tests, and the opinion is held that they! should lie confined to encampments; The, gun rescue competition was'abandoned. ■ THIS YEAR’S CHAMPION. 1

W. S. Nelson, who was decorated with the Champion Belt at the presentation cf prizes in the evening, is a member of the well-known firm of Nelson Bros.,- Hawke’s Bay. He claims only thirty-four summers, but never took up shooting till 1886, when he shot at the Hawke’s Bay Rifle/Association meeting, but did none too well. In 1891 he took part for the first time in' the New Zealand. Rifle A-ssdciatioh’s meetings, the gathering-being held at Oamam, and there at each of the 700 ranges he scored the possible. noC of hits,'but misses'. Latterly, however, he has improved at longdistance shooting, as his performances yesterday prove. Nelson baa never shot previously with the first fifty for the belt, and last year he was among those who came out for “ the nursery.” ‘On his own-range, and among his own club members, he has had probably to shoot amongst some'of (he hottest shots, in the colony, and that may explain why he has not. been more prominently before the public before, yet he has several trophies to his credit.'and 'with -the incentive of championship at his elbow will no, doubt increase the number. Nelson is most popular on the range, and a temperate man both in tire use of malt and the weed.