BOWLING.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18757, 10 January 1923, Page 8

BOWLING.

B» Tack. Mr Archibald, the spokesman of the Queensland louring team, announced in Dunedin that the Queenslanders wore making their slogan throughout tho dominion ‘■Queensland 1523.” He urged all bowlers who could spare the lime and cash to make an effort to “visit Queensland in 1923. He stated that a great many people when visiting Australia thought that, having visited Sydney, they had seen all there was to bo seen. He could assure all bowlers that if they paid a visit to Brisbane they would realise that their eduaction previously had been neglected. He could assure his hearers that any of them who made the trip would receive a warm and hearty Queensland welcome. ? The Queenslanders’ slogan appears likeiy to bear fruit. The Dunedin Bowling Centro, at least, is quite enthusiastic in, regard to the sending of a team to Queensland and a movement has been started with the object of attempting to despatch a touring team about March. Bowlers who are desirous of making the trip are’ requested to send their names in to the secretary of the Centro. (Mr It. Hanning). It is estimated that the cost to each member of tiro team will be about £IOO. Local bowlers are having a long spell from inter-club and four-rink games, as these games will not bo resumed until the last week of this month. When a start is again made a speeding up will be necessary as the inter-club competition is already a couple of weeks behind programme time. . I have not had an opportunity of visiting many of tho : greens lately, but from what I can gather slow progress is being made in tho club ties by most of the clubs. Quite a number of leading players. have had reverses in the first or second rounds of the championship singles. On the Valley Green J. Tonkin and J. Rigby were each defeated by Duncan; on tho Dunedin Green E. Harraway has lost one game and J. Bentley two; and on the Caledonian Green W. Foster, D. Smith, and C. Amtman have each lost a life. In the lost mentioned game Amtman was beaten by D. Smyth. The latter played a fine steady drawing game, but the ex-St. Clair champion was not up to his best form. The many friends of Mr Claude Young will regret to learn that although recently recovered- from a severe bout of influenza ho was during tho holidays admitted to tho Dunedin Hospital and may have to undergo a severe operation. A rink consisting of four Dunedin bakers will commence a tour of the dominion this morning, Christchurch being the first stop-ping-place. They will then cross Cook Strait to Wellington, and subsequently tho principal centres in the North Island, including Wanganui, will be visited. Tho personnel of tho rink is ns follows: —H. H. S. White, Jas. Wootton, F. Peacock, and W. Hendry. At tho local tournament on the Queenstown green during the holiday season, G. G. Adess, of the St. Kilda Club, was successful in skipping a winning rink and getting second place in another competition. His prizes were a “gold” clock and a silver watch. To those who do not understand the rules (and to those who know them and do not always obey them) there is a, world of humour in the game of bowls which has not yet been smirched by the vaudovillian (writes “Rubber Bowl” in tho Dominion). Some of tho “wheezes” are as old aa tho game, and some bubble up fresh and sparkling as the result of the peculiar characteristics of a shot—good, bad, or indifferent. Some bowlers lay themselves out to be funny. Just aa there are theatrical footballers and golfers, so there are bowlers who play to the bank (in other words tho gallery). But the purest wit concomitant to the game is that which is more often spoken unconsciously. Having been a spectator to last week’s tournament I jotted down a few of the casual observations hoard here and there, and record them as a protest against bowls being considered a slow or dull game. One dour, determined, stolid old Scotch skip, with a halo of many tournament wins round him, becoming disgusted with his lend for bowling tho jack into the ditch, said: “A mon who cannot throw tho jaeck will never make a bowler.” A few minutes later the same lead drew a magnificent shot just behind the jack. ‘‘Good mon!” said the v old skip. “Y’ro a great lead, I’m tellin’ yer 1” On a bowl which ran “narrow.” “You’re as thin as a chicken’s lip!” To a wide one: “What are ye doin’ theer—out in tho suburbs?” Skip’s instructions. “I want you to come in hero a yard gone on this hand to rest tho shot or trail the kitty to our back ones. Don’t lose your bowl and slip that one in front—it’s against us.” This is a perfectly clear instruction, no doubt, to a bowler, but to the uninitiated it would bo Greek. “Ye're as narrow as a Presbyterian!” This to a bowler who had omitted to take sufficient "green” to enable him to make the precisq parabolic curve up to the jack. “Take more paddock next time!” advised the skip. “Crack an egg on this one 1” was an instruction which did not even raise a smile. “Give this front bowl the onco over, and we’ll lie tho shot!” sounded quite American, though bowls in the States is just plain old-fashioned skittles. - “Smash ’em up —they’ve got no friends!” This to a No. 3 about to drive. * , “This bowl is in your way. Como in wide on the back hand and finish at my feet. . .' . What the dev You’re a ditcher!” This as a player bowled too fast and lan tied his wood in the 'ditch at the end of the green. “As wide as the gasworks!” “It’s a toucher! That’s the stuff to give 'em I” “This isn’t cricket!” This remark to a player who would, illegally, follow his bowl down the green by gently trotting after it, keenly interested in its fate. “Great shot! You draw like Dana Gibson 1’ “Hero’s one wi’ mai’r character 1 Whimip I Just missed, Charlie.” Most of the above-named expressions are well known to local bowlers, whose vocabulary of bowling phrases extends considerably further. For instance, one not infrequently hears tho instruction, “Hit it right in the complexion,” or “Harpoon it,” when a hard drive js wanted, or “Missed it by a coat of paint” or “You’ve taken the whiskers off it” when the shot just fails in its object. “Missed it going past,” is another expression well understood among bowlers. "That’s a good one,” I heard one skip recently remark when his lead put in a good block. “You’ve got it right in his eye.” All those expressions, and many more, though amusing to the uninitiated, are well understood by tho bowling fraternity, who are as a rule much too engrossed in their game to think of them in any but the most serious vein. Daring the Christmas holidays a progressive doubles competition was held on the West Harbour Green, and provided a good contest. The prizes were generously donated by Mr _W. R. Don. A. Silver succeeded in winning the skips’ prize, and the veteran, Galloway, won tho prize for leads.