OTAGO RIFLE ASSOCIATION

Evening Star, Issue 22004, 13 April 1935, Page 6

OTAGO RIFLE ASSOCIATION

ANNUAL PRIZE-FIRING The sixty-first annual prize-firing of the Otago Rifle Association will be commenced at the riflo range, Pelichet Bay, on Friday, April 19, at 7.30 a.m., and will bo continued on the following Saturday and Monday. Formed in 1863, the association is actually, seventy-two years old, the difference between the ago and the number of rifle meetings being accounted for hy the fact that during the Boer and Great Wars the championships were held in abeyance. Last Plaster the Otago Rifle Association had a particularly successful gathering, the number of entries (151) creating a record for any provincial association in the dominion. This was mainly due to the enlarged prize list (the meeting was the jubilee one), and the fine quality of the ammunition that was supplied. Endeavours were made this year to procure the same quality of ammunition, without success, and in response to a direct appeal to the Minister of Defence the association was again unsuccessful in a similar quest. The result is that competitors will have the choice of either 1922 N.C.T. or 1920 cordite. A double supply of ammunition has been purchased, and entrants will be able to secure one brand for their shooting if they so desire, with the exception of the service matches, which will have to be competed for with 1922 N.C.T, . The programme is much the same as that of 1933, and includes an extra service match and a similar number of individual matches and aggregates. The total prize money offered is £258, including 87 tyro and junior prizes. As in former years, the prize money is based on 125 entries, and, should that number bo exceeded, the executive may increase the prizes proportionately. A new r departure from ordinary routine, and one that will materially help visiting riflemen, is that the secretary will bo in attendance at the R.S.A. Club, Moray place, on Thursday next from 7to 9 p.m. It is hoped that visitors will avail themselves of this opportunity of paying their fees then.