Obit.—W. J. Salmon.

NZ Truth, Issue 124, 2 November 1907, Page 3

Obit.—W. J. Salmon.

The sympathies of the local cricket world will go out to Bert Salmon and his people m tii.- heavy bereavment they have sustained by the painfully sudden <!e:Jli cf their l.iaiented" father who, m th^ seventies and eighties, was such a shining light among Wellington's willow manipulators. Mr W. J. Salmon was one of a trio of brothers who assisted to keep Wellington's endup what time the interprovincial matches were m evidence m those days, the others being I. J. and J. A. Ike, I understand, is still very much m the land of the living m the Taranaki province, but J. A. died some years ago—curiously enough of the same complaint which carried oS W. J. at Palmerston North yesterday week', heart failure. The recently deceased gentleman was a batsman of the solid order who took a terrible lot of shifting when once he had settled down to business. He had several fine strokes, and could punish freely when m the humor. The writer well remembers the fine stand that he and J. P. Firth—now principal of Wellington College—made for the first" wicket for the local team against Nelson m 1885. All the efforts of the crack opposing bowlers to effect a separation proved futile until, m despair, the ball was tossed to one of the Fowlers, whose prowess with the leather had never been previously tested m a firstclass matches. The new bowler did the. trick, however, by clean bowling Firth, whose tally on the slate "was j 54, the total score being exactly 100. It was the first and last time that Wellington's opening batsmen piled on a three-figure score. Nelson, at that time, could boast of a powerful combination what with the Edens, the Fowlers, the Knapps, etc. Against the Sleepy Hollow representatives on a subsequent occas-; ion W.* J. going m first saw 170 hoisted on the telegraph before his i retirement pavilionwards was compulsory. It is said that m a match with Wangamii, the deceased and his | brother Ike collared all the wickets. W. J. did splendid service with the Midland seniors for many years. He j was an alert slipsman with a sure j pair of hands, and many clever ] catches were placed to his credit. He always played the game fair and square, and though keen on his side coming out on top, yet was never known to take advantage of an opponent m the matter of trickery, preferring to secure the fruits of victory by legitimate ends. A fine sportsman m every sense of the word. W. J. maintained his interest m the game right up to the very last. Would that more of his kind were flourishing m our sporting community. We can ill-afford to lose such genuine triers as the late W. J. Salmon proved himself to be. Peace to his ashes.