"LYSANDER, 1825."

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 13 October 1922, Page 2

"LYSANDER, 1825."

SHIP'S BELL FOB FOOTBALL TIMEKEEPERS. Fotoball competition is so keen nowadays that a second may make all the difference in the result ot a match. It is the duty of timekeepers to ring a bell at the end of each spell, and the rules say that the ball shall be "dead"' at the first sound of the bell.' It is thus /essential, says the Melbourne Argus, that on each, ground there should be a loud sounding bell/ for a premiership may be won or lost in less than a second through an umpire not hearing the. ringing of the bell. iSome years ago a membej of the »t. Kilda Club invented a patent football time ■_bell, and it. was tried with, success in some practice games. The inventor interviewed the league, but the clubs were not prepared to incur the expense of installation, fand nothing was done; Most of the bells are Insignificant. Recently the Melbourne Club installed a bell which should materially reduce the- difficulty. It hangs from the front of the members' balcony, ,and its rich, defep /tone echoes across the huge ground, so that no one will in future be able to say that, "he did not know that time was up." The bell, which was presented to the club by the Fire Brigades, Board, has had .an eventful history. It bears the inscription, "Lysander. 1825.*' It is thus nearly a hundred years since it was cast for the ship Lysander, which, after many adventurous voyages, dropped anchor in ..Hobson's -Bay, for the last time, as a prison hulk. There the bell dfd ■ duty for many years, i until, when the Lysander was broken km it became the property of the Penal Department, and t was installed, at Pentridge Stockade. Biit there were brighter days in store. • '■ The Coburg. Volunteer Fire Brigade wanted a bell, and, to the, delight, of the residents of Coburg, their application for "Lysander, 1825,'' was granted. It was used at Coburg for a, long time to warn: the neighbourhood of the escape of a prisoner or of an outbreak of fire. It was tolled for good news or for ill tidings, until the Metropolitan Fire Brigade absorbetl the' Coburg volunteers, and -the bell found a restingplace at Richmond, where it clanged the call to duty for years. Superseded by an electric bell, it was once tnore relegated to obscurity, and lay unused aild almost forgotten in the store at 'the Fire - Brigade, station on Eastern Hill, until the. Fire Brigades Boar.J presented/ it to the Melbourne Cricket. Club. /