The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE SEPTEMBER 3. THE GAME OF BOWLS.

Gisborne Times, Volume VI, Issue 203, 3 September 1901, Page 2

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE SEPTEMBER 3. THE GAME OF BOWLS.

It is somewhat astonishing the progress that this game has mado in public favor in this colony during recent years, A little time ago it was looked upon somewhat contemptuously, and treated as a pastime only fit for elderly gentlemen of aldormanic proportions, but let anyone attend any of our bowling greens nowadays, and the largo number of young men who find pleasure and exorcise in the game should convince him of the suitability of the ancient gamo of bowls for young as well as old. Without requiring the activity of tennis or the placidity of golf, it will still afford anyone who plays through a game a fair amount of outdoor and valuable oxercise. There has been a great revival of bowls throughout England, and there is some talk of a team being sent to the colonies during the coming season. Seeing that Gisborne at present holds the championship for the North Island, it is quite liuely that the visitors may bo induced to give us a call in the event of their visiting the colony, and we feel sure that if they do come this way they will enjoy themselves. Gisborne has two of the finest greens in the colony, and the club can fairly rank as among the largest as well as the most prosperous. The London Daily Telegraph thus comments on the revival of bowls : “ There are signs and symptoms of a revived interestjin the game of bowls, one of the oldest of outdoor pastimes, In its heyday bowls ran archery very close—so close, indeed, that in the interests of national defence it was 1 deemed essential to discourage the ' game. Thus, it was, probably, that t the pastime came to bejlooked upon as having something of an illicit char- n acter, and for a time was more or less I associated with houses of entertain- 1 ment, which were not always of the P best repute. But. in spite of the ban of bygone centuries, the bowling green has survived, more especially in the J north of England and in Scotland. Nor can there be any more delightful th game than bowls for a finej summer dr

evening, and more especially for those who have attained to an age when such lively physical exertions as are involved by cricket and tennis become a little unwelcome. Golf, there is no question, owes much of its recent popularity in Eugland to the circumstance that it is an old man’s as well as a young man’s game. Iu this respect bowls is a distinctly competitive pastime, for iu village bowling clubs —and, for the matter of that, on municipal howling grc-eus, for such places exist—it is invariably the older men who are the more expert, as well as the more zealous players. Of all historical games of bowls tiro most celebrated was that which was iu i progress on Plymouth 1100 when news j came of the Spanish Armada. Such i is the confidence which the pastime j begets that Sir Francis Drake continued to bowl at the jack, merely remarking that there was time to finish the game, and to boat the Spaniards as well. The incident is worth recalling if only as showing that the northern counties lial no monopoly of the game, and that there is nothing inconsistent with the fitness of things iu the effort which is now being made to popularise bowls in the grounds of the Crystal Palace. With all its attractions, the glass-house at Sydenham has so far possessed no bovling green. Now it has laid out for his purpose a picturesquelysituated piece of turf near the cricket ground, and the work has had tho active supervision of Dr W. G. Grace, under whose lead the Palace is vapidly adding to its reputation as a centre of national sport. It is, as most people are aware, no easy thing to produce a groon as smooth as a billiard table, for in tlio process a sum ranging anywhere between £IOO and £OOO may be disbursed without extravagance. This, doubtless, is why provision for tho pastime has always been regarded as a rather expensive undertaking for tho private individual, and why tho art of bowling lias been practised mainly under the auspices of clubs. At the Crystal Palace thero is to be established a -London County BowlingClub, aud for tho first time there ave to bo a number of competitions which should afford a capital test of tho now green, whoso site was formerly allotted to lawn tennis players. A feature of to-day’s inauguration at the Crystal Palace is to bo tho presence of an Australian and New Zealand howling team, a proof that howls is popular oveu in young countries which cannot boast our smooth lawus, dating back in somo cases for centuries, which are the envy of Amorican visitors. Another matter of note is tiro provision of competitions for ladies, a circumstance suggesting that, now that golf is fashionable among women, aud tho cricket field has been successfully invaded, there is no end to tho prospects of feminine prowess. Although tho game of bowls has beon tho subject of some disparagement in this ago of cycling and football, it is only fair to it to recall tho fact that iu its time it lias boon the sport of kings. Charles I. was an enthusiast for the howling groon, devoting himself to it when in power ; and solacing himself with it when it captivity. Thero was once a house at Barking, called Barking Hall, whero Richard Chute, a Turkey merchant aud a member of Parliament, had a fine bowling green. King Charles heard of it, and often enjoyed a game ou Mr Chute’s unrivalled lawn. Tho play was always high, and when His Majesty lost ho generally gavo up. One day it was suggested to him that if he would continue tho luck might turn. “ No, Chute,” said the King, “ thou hast won the day, and muchgood may it do thee ; but I must remember I have a wife and children. Evelyn, in his ‘ Diary,’ speaks of going to Dur. dans, now Lord Rosebery’s seat at Epsom, to play a challenge match at bowls for £lO, aud ladies as well as lords, played bowls as a matter of course iu Whitehall Gardens, and at such resorts as Tunbridge "Wells. Eventually a bowling green came to bo considered indispensable to a country house, just as a lawn tennis court is now'. Perhaps the game is destined to become fashionable again, in which case it will be a matter for congratulation that turf more soft aud smooth than the finest carpet in the world has been left to us by the care of former generations.”