DOMINION RIFLE ASSOCIATION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17575, 17 March 1919, Page 3

DOMINION RIFLE ASSOCIATION.

CONCLUDING DAY.. R. J. KING WINS THE KING'S .. PRIZE. (Pes UmITED PUKB3 Association.) • TRENfTHAM, March .15. The King's prizo was fired for this afternoon. 'i'iio weather was line but dull, with a smako haze and shii'ting clouds, while a choppy reai breezo played down to tho range, and cut somo men's scored about. lAranLdin, of Napier, wua the first to get a shot away, registering a bull. Crowds gathered round the leaders' targets, bat interest soon began to centre in King, who got in a string, H. S., and only got off tho bull on the fifth and last shots, which were 3 and 4. West, Monilees, and Hamilton also got 46, and fired off with King for first place in tho range total, West winning by scoring 14 to King's 13. Morgan, Loveday, and Jarvis also .had to fir© off for third place, and the result was:—Jarvis 19, Loveday 18, and Morgan 16. Following is the result of the Bang's Prize Match, tho soorcs at this afternoon's shooting being shown with the grand aggregate. Score. Ag. R. J. King (Opaki), King's Prize, Balilinger Belt, gold medal, gold badge, and £25 ... ... 46 445 W. H. West (Blenheim) silver star and badge, and £25 _ ... 46 431 N. R. Jarvis (Taradale), silver star and badge and £15 ... 45 450 ] H. Loveday (Ohura), silver star and badge and £12 59 430. N. J. Morgan (Akarana), D.R.A. badge and £5 ... ... 39 430 P. 0. Hamilton (Wanganui), D.R.A. Badge and £5 ... 46 428 Sergeant P. W. Ohing (R.N.Z.A.), D-R.A. Badge and £5 ... _ 43 427 S. Elliott (Akarana), DJ3..A. .Badga and £5 _ ... , ... 41 425 Lieutenant W. Hudson (P. and T.), D.ILA. Badge and £5 „. 44 425 P. Morgan (■Christchurch), D.R.A. Badge and £5 ... 45 425 H. G. Day (Nelson), D.R.A. Badge and. £5 ... — ... 43 423 President C. J. Nix (Featherstone), DJR.A. Badge and £5 42 423 R. H. . Harris (Christchurch), D.R.A. Badge and. £2 ... ... 40 423 N. A. Wilton (MauriiSeville), D.RwA.. Badge and £2 ... 39 423 G. Halliday (Karori), D.R.A. ' Badge and £2 32 422 A. C. Crossan (Wanganui), D.R.A. Badge and £2 ... 43 419 A. Lovelock (Linton), D.R.A. Badge and £2 '42 418 Lieutenant H. H. Donald (Ruahine), D.R.A. Badge and £2 :36 418 N. Mawley (M&stcrton), D.R.A. Badge and £2 ... 41 418 J. C. Comes (Waihi), D.R.A. Badge and £2 37\ 417 F. W. R. Kummer (Waihi), D.R.A. Badge and £2 ... 45 416 W. J. M'llvride (Petone), D.R.A. Badge and £2 43 416 Gunner A. N. Dnthie (N.Z.G.A.), D.il.A. Badge .and iik! ... 42 416 C. Hadfield (Blenheim), D-R.A. Badge and £2 — 43 418 F. Franklin (Petone),. D.R.A. Badge and £2 ... 37 415 S. M'iNabb (Daunovirke), £1 ... 44 414 Major A. J. Merriles, 6th (tLauxaldj Regiment, £1 ... 46 414 Lieutenant A. S. Henderson, Reserve of Officers, £1 ... 39 414 D. B. Mackemey (Ist WXB.), £1 ... ... 44 413 'President A. W. Cheal (Te-

. kuti), £1 ... ... 39 413 J. Steenson (Oam&ru), £1 ... 40 413 T. H. Carter (Nelson), £1 ...' 42 413 D. Boots (Patea), £1 ... ... 41 412 J. W. Milroy (Nelson), £1 ... 41 412 .W. J. Paynter .(Blenheim), £1... 43 412 Counted out: Major J. iieaxle (North Otag'o Regiment). Following are the positions of the laat. 15 men in the match:—Major J. Searle (Oamaru), score 39, aggregate 412; A. E. Woodland (Waihi), 41, 411; Captain J. H. Ross (Wellington), 42, 410"; Captain. M. Irvine (Nelson), 41, 410; G-. Y. Gardiner (Taumarunui), 37, 408; R. Duthie (Christchurch), 36, 408; Sergeant R. Hester (K Company Engineers), - 38, 407; Sergeantmajor A. G. Lowe (Auckland), 35, 406; G. P. Harrison (Hawera), 37, 405; E. Spedford "(Christchurch), '34, 405; P. Browne (Waihi), 29, 402; J. E. Bryden (Kaiapoi), 32, 401; A. Weir (Petone), 31, 401; H. R. Keene (Dargaville), 31, 399; apd H. Reynolds (Christchurch), 30, 398. CHAMPION TEAMS (five men each). — Seven shots at 300, 500, and 600 yards. Blenheim (B. J. Cooke, W. H. West, C. Hadiield, J[. M'Kay, J. W. Paynter), District Challenge Shield and £15 ... ... ... 437 Old Navais (Wellington), <£10 ... ... 436 Christchurch, £8 ... 435 Nelson, £6 ... — ~ ... 433 Karori, £5 .„ ... .i. _ 427 Hawera, £3 „ ... ... ... "425 Wanganui were counted out. The grand aggregate gold medal was won by W. J. Morgan (Akarana), 569, with R. J. King (Opaki), runner-ufi, 562. CONSOLATION MATCH. 1 Ten shots at 500 yards. I Sergeant G. Carey firentham), £3 47 Lieutenant' W. Powell {Akarana}, £2 10s 47 L. Franklin (Napier), £2 47 .Corporal H- M'Gill (Trentham), £2 ... 46 W. Jttainee (Dunedin), £1 10s • ... 45 C. Potts (15th Mounted Rifles), £1 10s 45 The Colonial Ammunition Company's silver shield, for rifle cluib teams of fivo men, all scores in th© Belt series to count, was won by Opaki with 1865 points, Blenheim seoond, with 1847, Karori No. 1 third with 1835. . The Continuous-running-man Target match of seven shots was won by W. Duncan (Waimato) and F. J. Causley (Thames), each scoring the possible with seven bulls, syid each taking £3 10s. ' R. J. King, the King's .Prize' winner,' is a native of Wairarapa, and 48 years of age. He began shooting in 1900 with North Wairarapa Club. _ In 1902 he oompeted at Trentham, gaining ninth place in the King's Prize match!ln the following year he won the belt, ind irt 1904 was a member of the New Zealand team, that went to Bisley and won the Kolapore Oup. He has shot "at successive meetings since, andin 1914 was 20th in the list for the King's Prize. He has won various district rifle championships, and is also good with the sporting gun, on one occasion tieing with J. White, at Napier, for the live-bird championship, but was beaten in the shootoff. The King's Prize meeting of 1919 at Trentham is destined to • become remarkable in the annals of New Zealand rifle shooting. It was the first after the Great War, veterans of which enacted in play some service practices they had carried out under prim circumstances on oversea battlefields. It was notable also in that Mr R. J. King had praotically won the premiership of the'year before the, final stage was fired, as only three men had a reasonable possibility of overhauling him, and then only if Mr King should go to pieces,, which was a most unlikely thing for. such a tried- shot to do. . Out of 10 ex-champions competing at the meeting, fivo—namely, King, Halliday, Roots, Milroy, and Irvine—were in the final 50; but apart from King, Halliday alone had a chance, and a very slender one, of recapturing tho coveted honour. When tne men assembled at the firing mound, a typical Trentham breeze of uncertain strength from the rear and left rear, with the son showing a shifty eye through passing cloud banks, and thin, yellow haze from the smoke of bush fires on neighbouring ranges, formed a test for many quidnuncs to propound wonderful prophecies. Trentham is known far and wide to shooting I men as the_ lair of one of yEoltis's handmaidens typically feminine in her fickleness, being since nicknamed "Tricky Trixie," and many times blessed or cursed according to the manner in which she smiled or frowned on poor mortals who had sought her favour. Those leading in th© King's 50 wore well scattered along the 800 yds mound of tho Sommerville range, in which the final test was fired, and expectant groups soon formed around them, the obviously hopeless rearguard men being neglected. Jarvis, of Taradale, was the first to get a shot away, bringing up a 5, which ho followed up with another and then a 4 and a 5, after which he got a series of 4's, and finished with 5, 4, 5, - making a total of 45, which was very good indeed and brought "him forward to such, an extent as to lead to interest being taken in his efforts. W. J. Morgan and H. Lovoday were shooting at this stage.. Halliday had, after causing his friends a thrill of anticipation, lost his place in tho popular mind by finishing with only 32. He missed his sighter and his first " business" shot, then rang on a string of fivo bulla: but here " TVixie," who had not forgiven him for old-time successes, gained despite her blandishments, and cast a spell over the man, for he missed tho target next shot, and then found tho inner ring. The next went unrecorded, asid tho last was a detested "nutgj pie." So Karori's only hope for 1919 went . down from fourth place, at/the beginning of > tho match, to fifteenth. Meanwhile Morgan . and Lovoday were fighting an uphill battle

against light and shade and tho vagaries of the wind. Each got 17 out of the lirst fivo rounds, made up oi 3's and 4's; but Loveday vv-as the better oa the count back. Thoir other live shots yielded tho stimo result, waking them 39 oil, with .Loveday still tho better on the back count. About this time a new star became visiblo oil tho horizon of tho scoring ■board. West, of Blenheim, throwing out his sightor (a magpie), brought up a bull disc fivo times iu succession, and tliOa fell in an unguarded moment to a' pull that .carried him off into tho magpio ring. He recovered with a bull for his nest shot; but was evidently less confident, for he finished unevenly with 4, 5, 4, making a total of 46. Hamilton got oa a very good 46, marred only by magpies in tho third and ninth shot, thus lifting him from eleventh to fifth place in the .line up at the prize-giving, toerriells put a row of five S's on tho scoreboard, ttion trailed off in irregular fashion with 4, 5, 3, 5, and 4, totalling 46; but, as he was so far behind at tho start, this fine fighting effort could not 'help him into prominence at tho ceremonial parade. Later on, though, it lifted him from forty-sixth to twenty-seventh plaoe on tho list with £1 as souvenir and painful memories of "Trixie's" attentions during the hours of . ordeal. Of the other scores besides King's, little need be said. There were "hard-luck" shots, of course, but" riflemen dispute a much-derided propensity for grumbling, are good sports, and don't take these things to heart, giving amcerest congratulations to the man who gets to the top. Comparisons of Friday's aggregate positions with Saturday's final line-up will serve to make clear to shooting men how lower and middle sections fared. After the first 10 minutes the question became not "Who has won?" but "How many will King get?" He meant business from the jump, opening with a 5 and continuing with three more s's; then a 3, followed by three more bulls, and ending with two 4's—a total of 46. That he made a "3" was a puzzle to tho onlookers, some of' whom attributed it to a canted rifle; but King was hardly likely to bo. guilty -if that, so a couple of points must -be debited to tho account of Tremfcliam's flighty moodß. King started with a lead of 8 points over his nearest opponent,, and rose from the mound with hb advantage increased to 14. The scorers of 46 fired off fqr the Rifle Challenge Cup awarded to the best scorer in -the King's Prize match, and West won,' beating King, his nearest man, by 5, 5, 4— total 14, to 4, 4, s—a5 —a total of 13. Not a single possible "was scored during the whole meeting, which is unique in the history of the Dominion Rifle Association.