OLD-TIME RIFLE SHOOTING

Marlborough Express, Volume L, Issue 154, 1 July 1916, Page 3

OLD-TIME RIFLE SHOOTING

THE NEW ZEALAND CHAMPIONSHIP ;

AN INTERESTING HISTORY."

At the Kai'ori IliflG Club's ; smoke concert the other: evening, Colonel 31. J. . Collins, C.M.G., as reported. in the Post, in _re.sponcling to the toast of the Association, gave- a, jnost interesting .-history: of the Rifle Champion Belt since its inception in 1861. , He said: .'■■■ ;. ■ .:"'/. v •'■ •.. . . ■■. .;•' . >■' !: The firefc Rifle Championship of/ New* Zealand, was fired for on 27th Marph; 1861, 885 competitors firing on their cnvn districts throughout New' Zealand on the name day. It was the first time inhere was any prize-firing on a. lai'ge scale in New Zealand; /Many of the competitors had never fired before, and m some (districts there was no proper firing '. grounds., : Tlie Champion Belt and : £140 winch accompanied it was won. ■.••;byi.'I;,Lic«tesi4ni;;'.'3?rig?it<nj, 'cf Auck-

land, with a. score of 22 out of a possible 27, the conditions being three rounds each al 100, 2CO, and 300 yards, 6x2 target, Bin bull's-eye, and 2it. centre. Thero were five other prizes (£SO, £40, £30, £20, and £5). It was worthy of notethat J. R. Sonnnerville, well-known to shooting men as chairman of the Rifle Association from 1886 to 1903, was the winner of the fourth prize, with a score of 19. In 1862 the number of shots was . increased to five rounds per range, and the- prize list extended to twenty prizes, ranging from J&SO to £5. The winner was Prrvato Holt, of Nelson, with a score of 32. ' The number of competitors was 625. 'In 1863 the distances were arberdfl to 300,, 400, and 500 yards, ;vith «t 6 x 4 target. The Belt was won by Lieut. Morse, ol Nelson, with a score *oi 41 out of 60. Three hundred and tliirty-five men competed. In 1564, firing under the same conditions, Lieut. Owen, of "Wanganin, won the Bell, with a score of 40. Nine hundred and seventy-five men competed. In 1865

there was .no competition. A change was made in 1866, by brining to "Wellington the best shot by competition) from each district, to tire on the same range and day. Five prizes ver© allotted, £100, £75, £50, £30, and £20,' 6 x n target, 4 feet : centre, 2ft. bull's-tye, any position, ! Sergeant Cliristie, of Otago, being i the winner, with a hcore of 39 out of a, possible 60 (]S competitors). The ! same conditions, were observed in 1867. j Corporal Chisholm, of Otago, secured ! the prize, with a .score of 42 (14 competitors). FIRST CHAMPION BELT. In 186S Sergeant Taylor, of Otago, won the championship, with a scoie of 47. In 3569 there was no competition, the money voted being allotted as prizes to the different districts. In 1870 the championship meeting was held in Dunedin, Lieut. Goldie, of Otago, being the winner. In 1871 the meeting i\a,s held ait Auckland, there being eight matches for the championship—won by Captain Wales, of Olago, who repeated his win at the meeting of the following year, which was held at Christchurch, thus securing as his own property the first champion belt of New Zealand. It will be noticed that the Belt had gone to Otago six times in succession. The 187-3 meeting took place at Nelson, and as extra representatives who qualified by scoio A\ero allowed to attend, 79 competitors took part in the meeting. Lieutenant Hoskins, of tlie Thames, was the champion' and first winner of the new Belt, which was subsequently won outright by Arthur Ballinger, and is now the Ballinger Rifie Champion Belt lor New Zealand, he having presented it to the .Association. The next .meeting took place at Napier in 1874, Captain T3amlin, J of "Waiukn, being the dinner, and in 'the following year, afc the Thames, Lieutenant Skinner, of Auckland. At Wangianiu, in 1876, J. 'Willocks, of Clulhft; Nelson in 1e67, Lieut. Paynier. of Ncl&on. tub Association. Up to 1877 the annual competitions for the Champion Belt were carried out by the Government," the prize money and expenses being found by the Defence Department. It was then decided to close down these meetingr, and the outcome of such decision was the formation of the New Zealand liifle Association, which held, its first meeting at Nelson in 1879, W. H. Ballinger, of Wellington, being the1 winner. The New Zealand Rifle Association carried on with varying success till 1901, when, the executive, >vho were becoming fmancially\ involved owing to the heavy expenses entailed on the peripatetic movements of the association, decided to ask thof Government to take over the association. The Government, agreed to do this, and the New Zealand Defence Forces /Rifle Association was established and Trentham canned as the permanent range for ihe championship meeting —assistance being given by the Government, supplemented by entrance fees, to• all matches by competitors. ( Under its new designation the first meeting opened at Trentham in February, 1902, when a. number of sernce items were introduced . " -. LONG RANGES.. , The 1&06 meeting marked a decided advance in the association's record. The long* ranges of 800, 900, and 1000 yards were introduced into the championship matches, and a Nelson man, in the person of Color-Sergeant Irvine, secured the championship for this year, Nelson having won it three timci in succession. In 1907 that old, consistent rifle shot, Arthur Ballinger, won the Pelt, and as he had now won it three times, it became his own, property; but, as already stated, he handed it back for competition. The association has, by its .annual championship gatherings, been a . power of immense value in encouraging a love of. rifle shooting and teaching tho use of the rifle. The us© by the- Defence Department of the, Trentham rifle range ta a camp since the war commenced has necessarily caused a suspension of the competitions for the Belt. /JYentham. has become a training centre, and takes ? an important place in the training ,of our troops for the* war.