BOWLING

Evening Star, Issue 16051, 1 March 1916, Page 2

BOWLING

fßy Measures'.] fnterest in the Champion of Champion games increases. With the tendency to do away with singles and doubles games at tournament meetings, as taking up too much space and time,-those who have a preference for'the four-bowl game will be driven in upon themselves to find an opportunity for such" contests. It was wise, therefore, on- the. Dunedin Centre's part to allow more- time for this season's championship meeting. Setting apart two Saturdays foe the game, instead of but one, gave plenty of time, and the players were not worried by the- fVar of the bell.* An hour and a-half for '2l heads is ample for the reasonable bowler. The arrangements for last week's games were good, the weather was fine, arte? the Dunedin Club green maintained its great reputation. •Nineteen of the twenty cluhs affiliated to the Centre were represented. Wai* kemaiti Cluh was the only exception, and so far has taken no* part, tn the Champion of Champions event. Each player had -to be beaten twice before he was out of it. TSose whtf lost their first two games were T. Sanders, (Kaituna), L. Hughes (Outram), J. Gebbiet (Wakarf), and J. Masterton (Kaikozai). - The third round found E. Falconer (Otago), J. Seddon (St. Clair), J. Kennedy (Momington), and W. Wright (Balmacewen) on the bank. Those who* went out in the fotirth ronnd were J. Veitch fW&st Harbor), J. Patterson (Port Chalmers), and K. Smeaton (St. Kilda). The fifth i«tmd put out H. W. Mann (Fairfield) arid E. Fountain (Roslyn). This leaves W. M. Hogg (Dunedin) to meet D. Buchanan (CJreen Island), ft Cormack (Caledonian) to meet J. Tonkin (Northeast Yalley), while W. Carswell (Taieri) has the bye. The contest is to be finished next Saturday. Some fin© games were witnessed, Bon Cc-rmack Especially being in form, while W. M. Hong proved he was one of the bulldog breed. He ■ had to stick to it with teeth set to: defeat veteran Caswell in the last round."- Either he or Buchanan must be in the final, as neither has had a bye so far. No player went thtough without a loss.

When U. Bachanan (Green Island) and K. W. Mann (Fairfield) started to play their last head on' Saturday afternoon the scores were level. Buchanan drew the shot with his first bowl; the second he sent away wrong bias! Though the game lay against him, Mann requested that the bowl be sent back to give Buchanan another chance, but the Green Island representative was too good a sport to accept it. It is a fine thing to see men playing in that spirit. There might have been an accident inone champion game. A player engaged on the rink nest to the pavilion sent up hfs bowl atjd began to drift to the left to watch its progress. Both hands extended, on, on he went, into the ditch, up on to tlio barik, on to the path, then crash into the veranda.h post. The damage was fortunately slight. • Several interclub engagements were also played. Dune'din had a very narrow win against Walcari ; Caveisham had a win and a loss against St. Kilda; Roslyn defeated Kaituna in all three; Otago beat Port Chalmers; and Caledonian were too good for North-east Valley. Next Saturday is to be a Ladies' Day on the Otagp. Green. Instead of the usual rink play there' are to be competitions in drawing and. driving. Other attractions will be tight-rope walking, skittles, etc. Rinks from. the Kaituna- and Mornington Ladies' Clubs will play a match, and this should prove very interesting to those who have not .previously seen ladies play the game. Mr Dawson has consented to throw open his fine garden' and grounds adjoining the green for the inspection of visitors. All bowlers and their friends are- cordially invited to be present. The proceeds from the competitions will be devoted to the Anzac Cltib funds. In conversation with Mr R. T. Wheeler I gathered an interesting fact which will be news to a great many. Remarking on a handsome gold pendant he was wearing, he informed me that it was won at the faster tournament in Oantaru in 1891—a quarter of. * century ago. Mr Wheeler added that at this meeting the electric light was used on a green* .for the first time in Australasia. "The winning rink were a Roslyn Club combination, composed of Dr Dickie, P. Dow, W. Carlton, and R. T. Wheeler (s). By the way, of this quartet only ?.Ir Wheeler survives. The game is considered to be strenuous now, but tk» win their event the Roslyn rink in 1891 started play at 7.30 o'clock one morning and finished at 1.30 o'clock the next!

The contest for the singles championship of Southland was spoilt to a great extent by the representatives of Gore, Winton, attd Riverton Clubs not putting in an appearance. This disarranged the draw to such an extent that the ultimate winner (Steans, of Northend) had a- bye in the first and second rounds, beat Hain (Invercargill) in the third, and then defeated Millar (Southland) in the final. Millar had played all through, winning three games.' The Rotorua tournamont is getting to bo a big thing, no less than 56 rinks taking part this reason. The winning rink was skipped by H. Rankin, of Mount Eden (Auckland), who defeated V. Casey's team (Ponsonby, Auckland) in the final. An open-air concert in aid of wounded soldiers realised £'l4.

Each year Wellington Club, who have a' large memlrersrlip, play a match with rinks selected from other local clubs.. It would naturally be thought that the visitors, as a- selected lot, would win the majority of games, but not so. The last match was played on Saturday week, when the parent club came off victorious for the twelfth time in succession. The fixture was instituted in 1905. Generally speaking, the senior- club have won the match fairly easily. On one occasion, however, they only got home with one point to spare. Fourteen rinks a side were played, and Wellington won 13 out of the 14 games, the exception being Hill (Wellington) v. Wylie (Newtown), when the scores were 16 to 31. Several big wins were recorded ; for instance, Goc-der (Wellingtbn) 45 v. M'Airthur (Kolburn) 6, Horner (Wellington) 40 v. Plimmor (Khandallah)' 6. The total scores on this occasion were: Wellington! Club 360, Rest of Clubs 214. Following are the results of the fixture iincait was instituted:

, A dice point raised in a Northern paper:—"! shall bo pleased if you will give me a reading of Rule 3, Section 12, Dominion B.A. Laws of the Game: 'A bowl or jack, which in its original course or after being moved by a bowl in play comes to ifest On or within the boundaries of the fink, shall be alive, notwithstanding that during its course it went beyond the side limits of the rink.' I argue that tne rule is not explicit enough. I maintain that, according to my reading of said rule, if a player drives (playing, on end rmkr-and ther jack strikes the side bank, which is beyond the side limits of the rink, and rebounds and rests within the limits of the rink it. is alive. Or if a toucher, after having touched the <ack, by some chance, strikes the side bank and rebounds ( On to the greert it is alive. I quite belWe a bowl of jack is dead after touching the side > bank, even if it rebounds i6to the rink j but' my argument Is on the COfrect reading of the rule as it Is printed, and I should like very much to have your reading of same through your columns."

Wellington. ' Rest of Clubs, 1905 ... 275 215 1906 ... 266 263 1907 ... 554 217 1908 ... 350 249 1909 '... 357 248' 1910 ... 325 324 1911 ... 336 256 1912 ... 312 305 1813 ... 334 29? 1914 ... 290 255 1915 ... 398 265 1916 ... 360 214