OPEN COLUMN.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXII, Issue 4636, 15 April 1902, Page 7

OPEN COLUMN.

OUR RAILWAYS. "A Constant Traveller” writes;—How that we have at the head of our railways such an euergvtc Minister, an idea oi suggestion may not be altogether thrown away, as to how our mail train service between Wellington and New Plymouth and similar services could be very much improved in a vary simple manner w t - out incurring any additional expense, and the convenience to the general jiublio very greatly augmented. -Firstly, by excluding from our mail trains the combination carriages half first and half second, letting all carriages be either firsts or seconds in their entirety; and secondly, by putting all first-class at one end and all second at the other end of train the dining car separating the classes, the smoking cars to he at the extreme ends of train. Jthis simple arrangement will appeal to everyone, whether travellers or otherwise. Space will not permit to go into the contrasts with onr present system. Often, now, a duly passenger from the first-class has to pass through a second-class smoker to get to the dining car. Comment is needless. If the first-class were always in front part of the train on leaving Wellington and fit the end of the train on returning, the classes would always pull up at one position on the platforms, and a great proportion of that push, rush and bustling annoyance we see and experience now •on our platforms would be obviated. 1 trust that this may bo seriously considered by our energetic Minister. THE SISLEY TEAM. A correspondent, wbo signs his letter "Captain of Woodville Rifles,” writes: "Bisley,” whose letter was published on 31st March, is rather unfortunate in his reference to the Sydney team of last year when ho says that "G. Loveday was a failure. 1 ' The team as a whole did not do as well in Sydney as was expected, but Loveday was one of the best of the lot. He came third out of the New Zealand team in the amount of winnings at that meeting. He was a member of the No. 2 team which took sixth place out of the forty-one teams which competed in the Empire Teams Match, while his score of 79 was the best score of the team. If Loveday was a failure at the Sydney meeting, it is evident that most of the other members of the team were worse failures, and the team included such men as King, McGregor, W. Ballinger and Winslade. I doubt whether Loveday’s record as a shot for the last live years can he beaten in the colony. At the Auckland meeting in 1897 he finished third in the championship with 548 points, winning .£34. _ At the 1898 meeting at Oamaru he was nineteenth at the commencement of the championship match and finished about twenty-fifth. It must be remembered that the champion match was fired in a howling gale, which completely upset a number of the best shots, McGregor, that year’s champion, only making nineteen in the champion match At Wanganui in 1899 Loveday finished ninth in the championship, winning J%l, and at that meeting won the Grand Aggregate Match with the score of 92. At the Wanganui Meeting in 1901 Loveday finished eighth in the championship and won the Kelson and all-comers’ matches with 97 and 98 respectively, and his winnines amounted to A 35. Neither qf those matches counted for the championship, but including them his aggregate was above that of any other man shooting at that meeting. Undoubtedly he was off colour at the meeting this year, and did not qualify for the champion match; but I am sure that any unbiassed person will admit that his record for the t last five years is such that he has fairly won a Elaoe in the team, and that it would have een an injustice if he had not been selected. Another aspect of the case is that this team is being sent Home chiefly to compete in the match for the Kolapore Cup, a teams match, and consequently it is wise to select men who have a good record as team shots. I think I can say without fear of contradiction that Loveday is one of the very best team shots in the colony, and can appeal to the records of the Woodville Club, Loveday having been a member of our team since 1896, in support of this claim. I think that tho Woodville quartette will be a tower of strength to the Bisley team in the Kolapore Cup Match on account of their excellence as team shots. X also notice that W. Ballinger’s right to a place in the team has been questioned, but I think that his proved excellence as a team shot for years past is such as to fairly entitle him to a position in the team, in spite of the fact that he has not shot up to his old form at the last two Rifle Association meetings.