BOWLING.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14927, 1 September 1910, Page 10

BOWLING.

Noras sr Jack. \tl?b f™" al 1- ®F°rt of the* Council of tho IN./j.D.A. contains nothing that is etartimgjy new, but the secretary (Mr Mercer) has succeeded in maiing it valuable for reference, especially to secretaries and office-bearers of clubs and centres, by gathering ■ together information respecting clubs affiliated, their' secretaries, doiegates, and colours, the officc-bcarcrs of the various centres, with extracts from the centres' reports, and, where available, their balance sheets. There are now 64 clubs with a membership of 3122 affiliated to the N.Z.8.A., and almost every one of these members is. an active ■ participant in th<» game. . " Some interest attaches to the balance sheet of the Council of the N.Z.B.A. Last year, on tho .initiative of the Dunedin Centre, it was decided to clip the win"s of the council, and members' were elected with instructions to reduce''tho levy for the council to 3d i»r club member. The lOaUit is wnafc \v«is inevitable. 'X*ho v gat's income (apart from the interest on the ' fun<l wliioti has taen accumulating for 21 years) was £37 Ifte 6d, while the expenditure amounted to £53 14s, or some £15 moro than the revenue. 1 As some £5 12s was leeoived as interest on the accumulated fund, the latter was trenched on to the extent of £10 only.. But as nothing whatever was done in t.he way of facilitating lx>wl-te.iting in other centres than Dunedin, it will be seen that if this work, whioh is essentially part of .the duty of Ike governing body, is to be carried out, the accumulated funds are likely to be heavily trenched upon next year. A beginning has been made, awl the eiudis not very distant -unless memters of the council insist on levying sufficient each year to meet outgoings. One would have liked to have been able to congratulate the "reformers" elected last September on maintaining a. sound finance, but that cannot be' truthtully done. Now that a beginning has been made with reducing bhc slowiy and painfull''acquired surplus funds of the N.Z.8.A., It is to be hoped tho new council will, boldly face the position and decide how the money should be spent,'and not pursue a policy of drifting and slowly eating hp tho surplus Without visibly baneriting the game. Provided a majority of thoss elected are in favour of enforcing the newly-adopted rules about howl-testing, the council should de-' cido whether it would bo advantageous, to devote the surplus, or a considerable portion of it, in this direction. 'It is only fair t hat, t.he council should .pay tile expense of sending the official tester on 'a Visit to each centre to ha\te- all bowls tested arid stamped. Further, it would be-only'equit-able on the part of die council to ftty for, the testing and stamping with tho ■ 1909 stamp of all bowls beariog tho association's old stamp which camc lip to the •requirements of. tile standard bowl. There are. many bowls in use whioh the veriest novice would at once say required no testing, their bias being much greater than that of the standard 'bowl. Having already paid for test ing and stamping these by the association's official tester, it seems unreasonable to aek the owners to submit to a further test and a further charge. Unless como such concession is made, there is bound to be friction and a feeling of eoreneas. The governing body must bear in mind that there are many of our best and most enthusiastic bowlers who are far from bein;; too plentifully endowed with this worlcrs goods—piayers who have to strictly limit their exjieikiiture on recreation, even thouxjli that recreation is tho health-promoting one of bowls. . ' . .

The timo for receiving nominations of candidates for election to the oouncil of the N.&.8.A. has now expired. Only thrco centres availed themselves of the privilege —South Otago, North Otago, and South Canterbury tailing to ic6pond. The nominations (received are:—Dunedin" Centre— Vice-president, Mr J. J. Marlow; treasurer, Mr J. H. Hancock; councillors—Messrs R. ii. Scott, J. 0. Short, C. Speight, 0. Balk, J. Taylor, W. M'lJonald. Christchurcli Centre—President, Mr E. W. Johnston; councillors—Messrs C. J. Payne, W. Allan, J. C. Short,. I{, H. Scott, W. M'Donald, J. H. Hancock. ' Southland Centre—Viccprosideilt, Mr C. S. Ircnguet; treasurer, Mr C. J. Payne; > counoitlors-Messrs J. Taylor, W. Allan, J. M. Gallaway, J'. C. Short,;. W. M'Donald, R. H.; Scott. • • As Mr Pay no had been first nominated for the council, lie declined tho Southland Centre's nomination for the treueuirerehip. This left Mi- Hanoock a.s. the only candidate for that l»sition, and, having been elected treasurer, he declined the Oliristchurch nomination as councillor. Mr Gallaftay, the retiring president, declined tho Invercargill nomination as a councillor. This leaves the fol-. lowing as candidates:—

President, Mr F. VV. Johnston (elected). Vice-president, Messrs J. J. Marlow and C. S. Longuet.

Treasurer, Mr J. 11. Hancock (elected). Councillors (six to be elected)— Messrs C. Speight, 0. Balk, J. Taylor (retiring members) R. H. Soott, J. C. Short, W. M'Donald, C. J. Payne, and W. Allan. As the result of tho recent alteration iin tllQ Constitution by which , the number of votes to be exercised ; by : club ■: delegates varies with the number of members belonging to each club, there will probably bo some. slight confusion when the centres come to ballot, as in some instances two delegates will have the right to exeroiee three votes, while in others the two mil havo but one vote. So far as can be made out-, tho voting strength of the various centres i 6 as-follows:— Votes. ■■ Votes. Dunedin Centre 35 S. Canterbury 8 Christchurch 28 North Otago 7 Southland ... 18 — • South Otago 11 107 The Christchurch Centre having put off nominating for a time until the views of candidates were ascertained on certain points, somo euricsity is fe't as to the assurances given. to that centre. There is a general impression that on tho result of the election will depend whether the new rules about bowl-te9fcing will be'put into foroeat once and carried out, in > the case of the association tournament at Christchurch this year. Exactly what significance attaches to the Qiristchuroh Centre passing over the names of Messrs Speight, Tayior, and Balk (members of the present council) is not clear. > When the Dunedin Centre next meets there ds a matter in connection with the Singles champion-of-champions contest that might be considered. At present the champion, in order to qualify for the competition, has first to run tho. gauntlet of his clubmates, and it may happen (it . has occurred already) that he is put out on'eomo off day by a ekibmate. A champion-of-c-hampions contest' with the previous year's winner left out is an anomaly. A player having earned the title in competition with champions from otter clubs, he should only lose it in some similar competition. One can Ecareely imagine the champion rifle shot 'being debarred {«im again competing for the title because in, some oompa/ny 'oon-

tests he was defeated by one of his comrades. In some sports (the English lawn (otlllis championship, for instance) tho holder of tho title is not. called upon to play until tho final rcund. This is too much protection in bowls, but cortainly the holder' should liavo tho right to maintain his title, if lie can, in such another contest as lie' gained it. Tho members of the Morningfon. Club very properly reoog'niscd, at tho annual meeting, t,ho gocd work done by Mr Hocking-. the jreenkoeper, by passing a complimentary resolution. There is no doubt tho Mornington (Jrc<Mi played wonderfully-veil for a first reason's green, and its condition was a credit to Mr Hocking, who made it. That condition was no doubt largely rosponsible for !no continued enthusiasm of members. The members re-elected jnost of the office-bearers, a very wise procedure in tlis case of a young club, as it is advisable to keep good men who put their whole energy into their work, as was the case last year with Mossns Davidson (president), J. P. Smith , (vice-president), il. G. Sawell (treasurer), and 11. Crawford (secretary). The club decided to do away with tho possibility of a recurrence of the position whioh arose last year when it. represonlat've in the centre ohsnipion of champions' contest was a member mho played in all other' contests for another ohib. If Mr Hocking is ablo to givo members a playing surface' equal to last year's it is quite on the cards that Mornington may prove a kmgh proposition in imorclub matches,