Bowling Notes

Free Lance, Volume X, Issue 500, 29 January 1910, Page 11

Bowling Notes

By Wrong Bias.

|gr FTER the hurly-burly of • the jpk tournament the average bowler pursues the uneventful tenor of Ihis way. no longer playing to full galleries. no longer arrayed in full flannels and gorgeous blazer, no longer -afflicted with a. thirst which demands frequent refreshers in the pavilion. The world has ©eased to talk about him, aoid he l has ceased to bother his "head about the world —once his foot is • oil the mat. The- South Island to.urname.nt did -not turn up any winners for the North. Brackenridge's and Bary's rinks (from Newtown and Victoria . respectively) failed to. rise to the top of their sections, and Kennedy's _ Napier rank, which did win its section, perished m -the finals which ensued. So did Willie Car swell's famous Taieri rink. Wedderspoon, of Roslyn ~ (a noted :ekip), fought out the issue with Service of Invercargill. and the man from Farthest South triumphed. Kai--bangata was third, and Win. Dall, o± Dunedin. (brother of gema-l G. 33., 01 our G.P.O.),ca.me in fourth. In the Pairs, the No.rth Island trundlears seem to have cut even ioe than in. the rinks, for they failed to place themselves. Dr. Allan and -J. Tait, of the Taieri dub, pulled off the event, and J. Scott and the popular Charlie Payne, of Dunedin, were the ninaiers-up. If the New Zealand. Bowling Association wants a better representation of the North at its tournament n'ext year it should be _ careful •mot to tread so closiely on the heels ot the Northern, tournament. "Once more," says "The Ditcher," in th© Auckland "Observer," "it is pleasant to record the unanimous vote or all visiting bowlers as to the splendid treatment dealt out to them by their Wellington hosts. So heartily were Tfchey entertained that the visitors" were indeed quite loth, to leave the capital. The ties that bind us to one another were once more tightened by the well-thought-out arrangements for the -comfort of the guests, such as making all visitors honorary members of the various clubs, etc. Wellington is out on. its own in. the matter of hospitality, and can ajcoept the compliment that it is the nursery for bowling comradeship." ' The same writer remarks that Sam Bradley still holds the heavy-weight •championship for New Zealand bowlders. He made the North Island reps, at Wellington look like a lot of ■dwarfs with his 20st 101b and never turned a hair on a week's play. The "team he was in lost, although om the Wright side. 'Tis hard to quench the thirst for bowls. One tourney whets your appetite for another.. Therefore. I'm not a bit surprised to hear that Norrie Bell, Flem. Laurence, and Thos. Ballanger are organising rinks to take part imi the Rotorua tournament, about the middle of next month. They are sut© to get themselves into hot water, but a few bowls at intervals will help thjeni toi cool off. This will be the first time for Wellington to crop up in a Hotorua tournament. Thereby hangs a tale. Norrie Bell went to see Carter, the magician, the other night, and when the ' reading seance came on he. wrote out the question: 1 'Who will win the Rotorua tournament?" signed his name, N. W. Bell, and kept the paper in his hand. By and bye the mind-reading lady, announced Norrie's question from the -stage, ad gave, the answer: "An Auckland team." The only mistake she made was in giving his name as "H." W. Bell, which, after all, is a mere detail. Norrie is .now practising hard to falsify the prophecy that. an. Auckland team will win. . All the same, he hasn't .managed to keep the Edwin Feathers in his hat— inO', I mean' his flaxen' curls, for he has scorned to wear a hat any time these two years. Crawford, Bennett, C. Williams and Jjewer came down from Karori after the feathers and, though Bell, assisted by_ Fred Gale, W. J. Thompson, and the inevitable Brunskill, did their beist to defend them, they went down by four points, and Karori has been in high feather ever since. There was _ a bit of a breeze over straight-running bowls at the Dunedin tournament last week. The Fairfield rink (McLachlan skip) beat Dufiedin (Gillies skip) in the match to decide the winning team of the Caledonian green section. Thereupon a protest was entered against Fairfield for. play-

ing straight" bowls, and the tester (W. 'A. Soott), who tried the bowls, refused to pass four out of the eight. Oin.i the Dunedin rink being declared winners of the section,they, withdrew from the contest, explaining that their protest was lodged merely as a, matter of principle. They pursued the correct course. " Green can't be too keen," says ' 'Boomerang,'' in Melbourne "Punch." ''Cricketers -might as well squeal that the pitch is too fast. A green-keeper is 'told,' not 'asked,' to prepare a surface. It all hangs on the word 'prepare.' and I assert that to prepare a green means not to leave* a bite on it to suit those who. throw out hints to that effect, but to make the surface as fast as cutting and rolling and the circumstances will permit. As for watering a green on the morning of a day set apart for important engagements, it is not only unfair, but levels all players." Some caretakers of Wellington greens and their Green Committees as well, should carefully cut this item out and gum it into their hats for frequent reference. Their idea of play is to keep the green sodden. A rather exciting game of bowls came off on the Kelbucnne green on Saturday week, between a team of juniors (Johnstone. Watkins. Manlev, and McArthiur (skip) and a team, consisting of Baldwin, Comrie, Coull, and. n.harlie Barton (skip). The game for the first half was in' favour of the juniors by nearly two. to one, but Charlie ait this stage of the game spoke "olain'ly to his men, and told them tj take pattern by him. which they did, and gradually wore the coilts down and won by a good' margin. _ Charlie had set his heart on winning that game. The following rather unique reminder is posted on. one of tihe .greens down South: —"He who expectorates on the green cannot expect to rate as a gentleman." Just a day or so before the recent bowling tournament in Wellington started a party of Auckland bowlers yisited Te Hiwi bowling green, at Island Bay. While there they overheard some pert remarks from Mr. Chas. Hill's well-trained African parrot. "Kapai Te Hiwi!" it kept on repeating, with great glee. One of the Aucklanders thought he might induce it to barrack for his side. He stepped up to the cage, and gently and persuasively murmured "Kapai Carlton!" Whereupon the knowing bird, with a wink of its eye, loudly replied: "Not a chance! Kapai Te Hiwi!" It quite broke up the crowd. The Hataitai Bowling Club has been prosperously launched, with a* membership of about 60, and the following provisional directors: —-Messrs. J. W. Kineburgh (chairman), Gill, Leigh Hunt, Hugging (secretary and treasurer). Lauren son, Mitchell, Muniro, McGoldrick and ; Sadd. This club will start with a capital of 200' £5 shares, each member to hold one share only. Half-an-acre adjoining the Poneke Club's "Gym" has secured for a green—an ideal site—with an option over an adjoining half-acre. Mere's luck to Hataitai.

Wellington Club gave a cordial reception on Wednesday to its rink that wool the champion banner: Harry Mayer, E. Carroll, G. Brown, and Tom Churchward. Everybody drank their health and joined in the musical honours. As thiey received their prizes it was noticed with glee that the player with least , hair chose a pair of silverbacked brushes. Hope is not quite dead. The master-printers and the wholesale stationers had a good ding-dong two-rink go on Wednesday, on_ the Wellington green, ending in a win for the master-printers. It was alleged tihat the latter had the assistance of the printers' devil, who did his level best to> keep the other side . stationary. Greenside, Prior, Louis Blundell, and Gooder beat Cavell, Meek,. Mitchell, and Leieihton by 20 to 16. and Freeth. Coull. Geddis, and Sievwright beat Jackson, Bruce, McLennan, and Osborn bv 20 to 15.