BOWLING

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14381, 26 November 1908, Page 10

BOWLING

Notes,by-Jack.

When tho president and ex-president 'of the New, Zealand Bowling Association were in Dunedin recently they expressed thehv solves /confident that a'cable would bo fe : ceive'd about the. 18th notifying/ that a Commonwealth team had been arranged to visit the Dominion in January noxt. ' Late Melbourne papers 6how that the date 'of receiving nominations for the proposed Now Zealandtrip had been, at the request of ft number ol bowlers, extended to November/. 30. This may be read as. being encouraging or disappointing, according, to/the dis-position'-of the reader. As ithe' team to play in the .interstate match against New South Wales had been pickod before the 16th inst., the original date fixed for closing nominations, tho fact of .further time being wanted does not look- as if there were many Victorian players eager to talto part in tho tour. ; Then an effort is being made to get together & Victorian team to play throe matches in Tasmania in Christmas week, and it is to be feared that owing to the time required being much shorter, the visit to the island Stata will prove more popular than a visit to New Zealand. But oven if .Victoria does ,not find many players.it is believed a visit from New South Wales and Queensland players is assured. , St. Kilda Club i 6 to/ bo heartily congratulated, on having ,won its four-rink championship game asstiilst the redoubtable Kaituna players. On the day's' play it deserved ,it. The win would have been much more appreciated had tho game been played on tho Kaituna Green. How it came about that the St. Kilda Green was sekoted need not be entered on, but, under the circumstances,' -it was- a big mistake,- and

the choice was opposod to the spirit in I which'the ohampionshin games were pro- j moted and encouraged". The object.: was ;' to raise the standard of play by improving it, and when the Kaituna ground was available . it. cannot bo seriously contended that' the standard of play v.-as likely to bo improved by passing over a sward in tip-top condition. In a month or so the St. Kilda Green will probably bo quite equal to others. Hut on Saturday last, after only one week's play the bowls played somo strange pranks. There is no attempt in■tended to minimiso tho win of the "Saints," as on tho form displayed thoy would in all probability have won had tho play been on Kaituna. Mollison was particularly deadly, and the score whioh he piled up must not be taken to indicate that Payne and liis men did not,play well. As a matter of fact, except at the, commencement of tho ga'me, they played remarkably well, and o:i several occasions appeared to be certain to scoro several points when the skips crossed over. Payne was perhaps not in Quite his old -form, but he was not "off" to the extent which the scores might l bo thought to indicate. It was Mollison's day out, and he could make hie bowls do anything wanted, M'Curdv against Paterson and Cameron against T. Sanders played a dashing a.nd resourceful gamo for St. Kilda, both getting out of some tight corners in great .stylo. Perhaps'the condition of the green is best indicated when it is stated that White (for St. Kilda) had to frequently resort toted driving against Baillie. That 18 not Jus gamo on a good green, nor is it the stylo of play which it is sought to foster. . : The game put un by Port Chalmers against tho Dunedin Club in the rink chain-' monship; was a disappointment to their friends. • It was not anticipated they would win against tho'formidable combination which Jhe senior c l u b put in. tho field, but in ,yj,ew of some past performances it was considered that they mighi put up a strong & Dunc<lill Green played remarkably well, and if. the ends aro given «. fair chance will be in rare condition about' Uinstmas time. St. Kilda. and Dunediri Clubs will play their .championship game on Saturday. Besides congratulating St, Kilda Club on its championship win, further congratulations ai'e duo to its meritorious.inter-club victory over Kaituna, To put 12 rinks in the held and'boat Kaituna is something to ™P™' ?'. and especially when nine out of the 12 had the test of the scores, whilo another tied. ' -. Bosjyn went down before Green Island in an, eight-nnk game on Saturday to the tune of 183 to .140, every Roslyn rink -being j OW - a l m polnfs ' Roslvn meets' Caledonian. Olub m championship match on Saturday. '.'. The hill club, by the way, has adopted rather a novel method of picking its...champions. The committee of the club selected the four skips. The Selection Committee then .picked 16 .other payers...and,■'handing' the names ' over, a lowod the four skips to choose their own '•players. When the Southern Recreation Ground,is filled up the Dunedin City Council should seriously, consider the question of having a 16-rmk : municipal bowling greon formed and, if there is a demand therefor,* tennis courts as well. As showihg the rapidly-increasing .popularity of tho game, it may be pointed out that nearly. 4500 games ata, penny .per game wore playedon : the pubh'c' rinks in" Yauxhall Park, London, as. compared with 1816 games 'in tlio previous year. The ground had been previously -used for tennis. It is in Edinburgh, however, that bowling on tho x penny a, game, principlo on the municipal green's has found, most fa.vonr. A Scottish .paper says:—'f A hundred and seventy-eight thousand -four hundred . and twonty-eight players _ were registered, of whom 73,259 also'paid' a half-penny each for tho-use of the rubber shoes supplied by tho corporation.. 'Tho revenue derived amounted to £896 Is ; sJd.'.. On one green over 28j000 ganics'.w'orc- registered, There are 15 •bowling greens' in the publio' parks of Edinburgh,, arid thus it will he seen that the average carning-power was nearly £70 each..' In Scotland tflio' season' closes a nidrith'earlier than in London—at least, so far as tho municipal grounds are concerned —otherwise tho, returns would have been very, much greater." Balolulha defeated Milton in tho South Qtagd Centre pennant match by'ls points., Tlio gamo •' was played ■' on .the Stirling GrCen. , „ Greaney and W. Moore tied with 20 points each. Gunthorp put. down A. Buchananby 1 21 to 18, whilo C, Cuff defeated'Taylor'by 2* to 12, ; The, Tuapcka Club played its opening gamo outgeneral election day in fino weather, whciv the: vice-president's side defeated' the president's by 11 points. The tennis courts' were' fully occupied'during the afternoon, the grounds having a very animated appearance. Afternoon tea was served, and all present enjoyed themselves. rThe Gore Club has elected Mr Robert lusher as president,- vice Mr J. E. Broad, who resigned.' For the club's rink games digh't teams liave entered. The grc<si is reported by "Ditcher" to be playing exceedingly .well this'season. ..'' Te Rangi and North End Clubs, Invercargill; tried conclusions on polling day, the North-EndeTS winning by 9* to'7B in the senior match. In the juniors' game To Rangi won by 9* to 82. In the senior game Allen scored *2 for North 'End against Harper's 16, the other three rinks of his. side being/all down, a few points. In the gamo between Bain (North End) and M'Huteheson, the latter- was 3 points down at the twentiethijiead. At the twenty-first head'To Eangi,lay 6 when the skips crossed over. ■One was put out by Hain, but tile opposing skip put. another in its place, and finished 3 points to the good. "Skip," in the Southland Times; complains of the excessive driving indulged in by two of the skips engaged, and ;i - emark9:-"Legitimate driving is; good, birt'indiscriminate driving becomes & nWsahce puro'and simple." Riverton, Green was opened on, general election day; the function'being in" every respect; a .success. The president (Mr R. Acheson) welcomed the visitors, amongst whom were,some Invcrcargill players, and then thet first bowl of the season was rolled by Mrs'Aoheeon. ' Eofresliments were provided, and the weather being beautiful, those,present soon ; forgot all about the political turmoil of the day. ■ A Melbourne contemporary says:—"ln the recent thrco-rink premiership match Richmond, Union, v. Armadale B, a remarkable shot, was made by Edgar Hayward, captain for Richmond Union. Tho premiers wore lying 8 shots, two beine; in front of the kitty and touchers. Hayward struck the- two touchew and split them, and,: following on, trailed the jack away to the Richmond timber, scoring an 'oightcr' amid applause. This shot. practically mado a'difference of 16 in the game, arid is' one of tho. most extraordinary yet recorded in. the pastime." . The New South Wales Bowling Association has la. Big programme for the season.

The Sydney Mail says:'—A Nov,- South Wales.team.will.-go over .to Melbourne at- ' the end of 'this month to play tlio return match New South Wales v. Victoria, fixed for. December 1, 2, and 3. A team from Soiifh Australia will visit Sydney about Christmas. A representative team from Tasmania will arnvo in March, the Vic-'' torian representatives will bo over at Easter, and Queensland will Bend a team to Sydney a month later. Early in the year the "New South .Wales players will leave for New Zealand^'whero the return match lias to be played against the Dominion. The annual inter-association match, Sydney against Newcastle.and surrounding districts, was 'fixed 'for November 21. A 'champion.'of champions contest h<s* been revived at Parramatta (N.S.W.), and proved so successful that next year tlio Now South Wales Association will takotho matter up. _ Tho. opening rounds were' played with tho-mercury standing atlOSdee in the shade. The winner turned up in W. D. Woodhouse (chaanpion of Hamilton Club), who disposed of several well-known players in a.somewhat sensational mannor. Tho final between Leitch and Woodhouse'. was watched with great interest. At tho outset Woodhouso could not gauge tho strength, being repeatedly too weak, Leitch wow 9 to his 3, 1* to 9, and 18 to 12 on tho twentieth head. Woodhouse made a Rood! recovery, and twico when Leitch lay 2 or' 3' he'drove''with deadly accuracy and carried tho jock out of bounds. Then, coming -'with i two singles and two braces, he drew level, | and, after.another.dead hoa<l, got in two more, and*won by.2l-19.amid ascene.of. great excitement.', .■ • This is the kind'of taunt a Melbourne, paper throws at New Zealand bowlers, duo to our having no proper system of testinjsbowls m the south:-"While on the sub. ject of "Dominion players, there's no doubt" thoy wantvto do something in the shape of adding bias to .their, bowls before they come to these shores again. Some of the timber used-by tho'last team was painfully of tho' gun-harreUtorder. Even on the Moonee Ponds Gro&i many of the bowls ran like rabbits. _ When a rabbit is startled its objective ia straight, to tta first hole it knows;" hence the connection.!' It i.i to be honed something practical will be done by the / council at Its. next meeting, as I presuma the committee which has the matter in hand will, bring up a'report on which immediate- bo,taken. \ ' A world's i-etiord: in the matter of prize- . giving was put-up at the Blackpool tournament,, England. . Mrs Nickson, the proprietress of -.tho.Talbot Hotel Green added £187 to,that-of; the sum''of £208 made up from 53 entrance fees of tho 832 entrant. , In addition,"to £50, 'tho first prize winner receives a.handsome silver cup; the second falls in for "£2O; the next two of £12 each; whilst there are three of £8 each', six of. £5, 13 of £3, 26 or £2, 52 of £1, 15*' of 10s, and 208 of ss.> Thus £400 will shortly be paid over to the various winnors. .; This/ is nota exactly the kind of tournament which; should ; bo encouraged in New Zealand.. . 7