GORE CRICKET CLUB.

Mataura Ensign, Volume 10, Issue 706, 23 September 1887, Page 6

GORE CRICKET CLUB.

The annual meeting of members and intending members of the above club was held in Huwells' Hotel on Wednesday night, and was largely attended. Mr Thomas Green, tbe president, was in the chair, and the vice-president, Mr James Beattie, was also present. The secretary, Mi* Theodore King, read the following report and balance" sheet : — Mr President and gentlemen, — This is about the tenth annual meeting of the Gore Cricket Club, and it is surprising that we have always been in many ways so backward. We have always been in debt, and never yet had a ground of our own to play upon. I am glad, however, to say that there is now a gleam of hope ; things at last have a somewhat healthy appearance, and with proper management the game in Gore for the future should be a success. Siuce our last annual meeting some of your committee have worked well and energetically, aud with the support of the public have brought ab.uc a satisfactory state of affairs. We started the season with LlO to the bad ; but I am happy to say the club has now a balance in hand— a "pie .sure never before experienced — and,what is better still, we have a proper ground of our own and the good old days of leather hunting among the tussocks are a thing of the past. Besides having a good turf, we have also acquired a good roller and lawn mower wherewith to keep our ground in order, and it is to be hoped the members will not be backward in giving some help with these articles. It will be necessary to roll the ground and cut the grass every week, and if members aro too lazy to do this their ground will never be iirst-clas?. In a faw weeks the ground will be enclosed by a six foot board fence, You will therefore see there is nothing to prevent cricket being a success here in fnture. Time will oniy admit of me giving a very brief outline of what has taken place during the season. The season from a cricket point of view was not a very successful one. We played eight matches, and only won four — two against Pukerau, on« Clinton, and one Waikaia. We were also defeated four times — twice by Mataura, ouce by Waikaia by six runs, aad once by Wyndham by an innings and 16 runs. It is to be hoped that there will be an improvement this season. The handsome prize given by our worthy president, Mr Thomas Green, fqr . the most : runs made in club matches during the season, was won by Mr William Douglas. He uou-

tiibuted no less than 223 runs during the season, and bas an average of 20 runs per innings. His death is a matter of deep regret. He was, 'as you all know, looked upon as the best man in the club, not only from a cricket point of .view,, but in every other respect. He was one in whom we all keenly feel we have lost a dear friend. ' I therefore trust this meeting will give some expression of its feeling in the matter. The vice-president's prize, which will be presented this evening, was won by our old Veteran Mr Simson. 'ThW was a prize for the best bow'i ! ■'".'• -v.". Afr' Simson bowled 92 ovei-B, anu na, v.. ... w.'u^j .1 six runs per wicket. The averages of those who h*ve played in three matches and over are as follows arranged according to merit :—-.'_, Batting. Sd -2 Gg> v Name runs '3 .2 So?? •S § fI.S %

Bowhiaa. Simson : 92 overs, 21 maidens, 0 no balls 2 wides, 203 runs, 33 .wickets—average runs per wicket, 6.15. Dewar: 67 over*, 9 maidens, 1 no ball, 1 wide, 152 runs, 22 wickets—average, 6.90. A loose sheet, with details, is laid on the table for members' inspection. . The details contained in these averages are important. You will observe they show that nearly all those who played in three, matches and over were iun out once on more during the season. This shows a great want of practice. ' That this meeting might know who were the chief supporters of the club last season, I will read out a list of those who have given Ll and over :-J. K. Grant, Ll ; W. A. Donald, Ll; F. W. Ibbotson, Ll ss; F. Moorhouse, Ll 10s ; D. Dewar, Ll 15s j A. Dolamore,L2ss ; T. Qreen,L2 12s; J. Beattie, L 3 lis; I. S. Simson, L 3 15a; W. Douglas, hi j H. 8. Valentine, L 4 25.; T. King, L 4 10s. The rest of the members have only paid their subscriptions, and some not even that. It will be observed that most of these handsome donations are from gentlemen who never handle a bat. What a contrast to those who do so much practice and then after all won't pay their paltry subscription and urge as an excuse that "Oh I I was never picked to play in any matches," or " OhJ you never had half enough material for us to practise with." They don't bear in mind that we can't buy material if they won't pay their subscriptions, and that it is the rule that non paying members cannot be picked to play in matches. There were eight committee meetings during the season. T, Green attended 5, J. Beattie 2, T. King 8, W. Baker 3, A. Martin 6, D. Dewar 2, V. G. Day 6,1. S. Simson 5, and G. Tapper 5. Last September a fancy dress ball was held in the. Town Hall for the purpose of raising money for '-he club, the credit of which was due chiefly to Messrs Tapper, Bonsey and .King. The ball was' a grand success, but only added 17s to the Club's funds. The next trouble for the committee was the arrangements in connection with the new ground. Tenders were called for repairing the fence, ploughing,, harrowing, sowing, etc., and the work carried out under the supervision of our president, Mr Green, and Messrs Martin and King. Your committee went to a great deal of trouble -in arranging for the Caledonian S&ciety to' take over the new ground. Much is due to our worthy President and VicePresident, Messrs Green and Beattie, for help and interest taken in this matter. The conditions under which the ground has been handed over to the Caledonian Society are as follows: They agree to erect a high olose board fence round the field and keep it in repair ; allow the Cricket Club the use of the ground, and allow the cricketers to retain their own gate money; no horses or cattle are to be allowed on the cricket pitch, and the Cricket Club is to keep its own part of the ground in order. The CricketJClab will have to pay an annual rental of about L 3, or make any other arrangement that may be mutually agreed upon hereafter. The next trouble was tbe gift, auction, over which your poor secretary nearly worried himself to death, Mr Wm. Henderson was the only other member who did any substantial canvassing besides myself. Several ladies and Messrs Olsen and Canning also rendered valuable assistance, and Mr Simson kindly lent his rooms and sold the stuff for us. In connection with this auction I sent out twenty-two written notices to those members who were supposed to .be canvassing, calling a meeting for the evening before the auction: to see what had been collected. Twenty-two written notices, Mr President, and only one man turned up to the meeting I The secretary was left iv the lurch to do as best he could. On this occasion we cleared L 23, and there is about ' 30s to come in yet. It is this gift auction, to which tht. pub ie so lib rally responded, that has placed us on our present sound footing. You will understand that onr new ground is on a public reserve, and that is partly why so much public support wai forthsom-, ' ing. The public knew of courte that their, donations were for the improvement of a ground for their own use as well as ours. -

SUMMARISED BALANCE SHEET FOR . Season 1886-7,

Receipts. £ s d Subscriptions and donations ... 19 14 0 Fancy ball 15 0 4 Dinners &c... > 116 President's and Vice-President's prizes 3 2 0 Gift auction 23 6 3 62 4 1 Expenditure. £ s d Postages and telegrams (10s 8d), printing and advertising (£6 12s 10d),dinners (£2 7n),carting team to Pukerau (12s 6d) 10 3 0 Repairing and shifting shed (£2 4s Gd), ground (£2O 18s 4) ... 23 2 10 Fancy dress ba'l (£l4 2s 9d), gift auction (£2 9s) 16 11 o Cricket material 9 4 President's and Vice-president's prizes 3 2 0 62 4 1 Assets. £ s d Shed 10 6 0 La vn mower aud roller 9 4 0 Cricket material 3 10 0 Gift auction ... 1 6 0 Unpaid subscriptions 2 2 0 26 5 0 Liabilities. mi. The report and balance-sheet were adopted, with a special vote of thanks to Mr King, to whose'efforts the sound financial position was largely attri-. buted. The President said it would be remembered that he had offered a prize to the player who got-the best batting average, and it was Mr i Douglas who won it. They had all hoped to see him there that evening to receive the trophy, and he need not say what pleasure it would have given .! to them all if this could bkVir been. < But it had^beeu ordaihed Qtherwjse., )

1 ' '■ -*• «■ - T The little tea set and mirror whioh: they saw oh the table had been chosen : by Mr Douglas himself \ only a (few weeks ago, and he (the speaker) thought they could not do better than forward them to Mrs Douglas with.-a letter of condolence from the club. (Hear.) He was sure Mrs Douglas would treatmre them in memory of her late husband's abilities as a cricketer. . He would move 'That, this olub desires to place on record the great loss it has sustained in the death of the late Mr W. Douglas, who hiis filled many offices in the club, and that a letter of sympathy be written to Mrs. Douglaß expressing the sorrow of the ' club at his death, and mentioning the great esteem and respect in which he has alwaya been held.' Mr James Beattie, the vice-presi-dent, seconded the motion and spoke of the great loss the club had sus- i tamed through the death of Mr Douglas. I The Vice- President presented his bat for the best bowling average, which was won by Mr Simson. Twenty new members were enrolled, and the meeting proceeded to the election of officers, which resulted as under :— President, Mr Thos. Green ; vice-presidents, Messrs Beattie and Canning ; captain, Mr Godby j secretary and treasurer, Mr King ; committee, Messrs Simson, Tapper, J. Dewar, Martin, and fl, Dolamore. Mr Wm. Henderson was appointed an honorary life member. Mr David Dewar wwavs v appointed practice captain for the seaaon. Mr Bree_.sppke_pf the necessity! of encouraging young cricketers, and said he would give a bat to be awarded by the committee to whichever of. the junior members who in their opinion had, either by assiduous practice or by other merit, deserved it. Mr Williams promised a ball to the club on its, first victory, and the captain said that as he, would probably be held respousible for defeats he would give the club a ball for every match they lost. , . . ' After some discussion about [the fencing of the ground and the amount of the subscription fee, the meeting closed with the usual compliment^ to the chair.

Doughs 223 .12 1 81 20.27 Brennan 73 10 4 26 12.16 Day 64 11 0 27 .5.81 King 21 5 1 12 5.25 Bonsey .68 12 0 15 4.66 Simsoa 42 10 1 11 4.66 Scott 22 8 0 11 3.14 Tapper 37 12 0 9 3.08 Dowar 32 11 0 13 290 Baker 14 6 1 8 2.8 Waters 11 6 2 3 8.75 Moorhouse 15 6 0 9 2.5 Bell 2 5 0 1 .4