NEW ZEALAND "BISLEY."

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 14929, 29 February 1912, Page 9

NEW ZEALAND "BISLEY."

FIRST DAY AT TRENTHAM. SERVICE MATCHES POSTPONED. THE MEN IN GOOD FORM. [BY TELEGBAriI.— ASSOCIATION.] Trenthah, Wednesday. When the reveille sounded this morning for tho opening of tho Dominion Rifle Association's meeting at Trent ham, the weather was warm and genial, and promised a fine day. The teams entered for the service teams' matches, which formed series A cm tho programme, were instructed to parade at 8.15, and it was intended to start the Islington cup competition, which includes marching and an attack on a position represented by targets, at nino o'clock. However, at the time appointed, only one team appeared at the squadding posts, although four had entered. The Opaki Rifle Club had their full number of 12 men, and a commander, but the Suburbs Rifle Club only had 10 men, and the Karori Rifle Club only nine men, while the Nelson Infantry Regiment, the other entrant, had only one representative. As one of the conditions of tho series was three entries or no match, it was palpably impossible to start. Lieutenant-Colonel Hughes, who, in the absence of Colonel Collins, was in command, postponed the parade until two clock, to give the teams a chance of getting others of their team together. At two o'clock thero was no further appearance of the absentees, and Colonel Collins, who had arrived in the meantime, decided to postpone the teams' matches till the next day. A couple of extra matches had been placed on the programme, one at 800 yds and one at 900 yds, as practices for those men who were not shooting with tho teams, and Colonel Collins issued instructions to add one at 300 yds, and one at 1000 yds. Tho men had been steadily drifting in all day, and at three o'clock there were 327 entries for tho meeting, with the probability of at least a dozen more before the individual matches start on Friday morning.

At noon a sharp shower came on, which afterwards turned into a steady downpour, but the light was excellent, which gave opportunities for useful practices. Among the entries are severs 1 ex-cham-pions, and shooting to-day were G. Hyde, E. J. King, Roots, and Rot*. W. S. King is another ex-champion, who has entered.

The shooting at cXJOyds was an index of the meeting, and showed that most of the men -were in excellent form. There were two possibles, and a long string of 34's, and among the latter being Marshall, Marenzi, Loveday, and Roots, all of whom were airing their Bisley experiences. James, another Bisley representative, who had made such a sensation at Greytown by scooping the majority of the prizes, also put up 34. Roots, too, got 34 at 900 yds, at which the shooting was also very warm. R. J. King got 33. The match was won by Barklo (Wellington)-, with the possible. At 1000 yds Meholm (Wellington) was on top, with 34, among the 32's being Loveday, Marenzi, Barkle, and Maingay. The 300 yds match, which was the last fired, produced two possible; in Russell (Pctone) and Woolley (3rd Re giment).

To-morrow morning shooting will commence at nine o'clock with, the Colonial Ammunition Company's cup match for field ; firing by teams, and it is expected that three team 3 will start. There will also bo a number of extra matches put on for practice purposes. There has been a misunderstanding on the part of many competitors as regards servico teams' matches, most of them having tho idea they must enter for the series. This was not so, as each match was independent of the other. The extra matches fired to-day were sweepstake matches, and altogether apart from the official programme.