BOWLING.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19980, 23 December 1926, Page 4

BOWLING.

By Jack. The popularity of the Dominion bowling tournament is reflected in the entries which closed last week, a new record having been established. The previous high-water mark was at Dunedin last January, but the figures reached on that occasion have been substantially increased in the singles and rinks, and in the pairs the decrease is only two. A curious item of news comes from Wellington, where one newspaper critic states that the best players do not now go to the Dominion tournament, for it has grown so large that the indifferent greens have to be used, as well as the good ones, in order to accommodate the great number competing. This expression of opinion seeins (writes “Trundler” in the Auckland Star) to be hopelessly out, for it is safe to venture the forecast that next month there will be competing in Auckland practically every good player in the Dominion, for they would not miss on any 'account the greatest tournament of the year. The green selection committees in each centre are too particular in their choice of greens for there to be any fear on this score, and no player of any importance will stay away lest he should get landed on an indifferent rink once or twice in the course of the 16 matches guaranteed to every competitor. The following table shows the results of Saturday’s inter-club matches: —

• Bye one section. In Australia there is a criticism under quite a different heading, finance. One newspaper critic says that the entries are too high, and another that the prizes are too low; fortunately, there is no likelihood of the a H'ide of both being accepted, otherwise the Dominion Bowling Association would soon be in the Bankruptcy Court. Possibly the prizes will be increased some day, but at present the sentiment in New Zealand is against unduly high values, the limit value for trophies being figns, whereas in Sydney they gave the winning rink four trophies each valued at £B, while in the singles the trophy was valued at £25. But in the matter of entry fees the criticism seems rather absurd, for they charged 10s in the singles for one guaranteed game, whereas our charge is exactly the same for two, while in the rinks they charged £1 for one game of 18 heads, whereas we charge £3 for nine games of 21 heads. Their balance sheet is not available, but with three times the number of entries in the singles and 50 per cent, more in the rinks Jthey could easily afford to pay more in prizes, for they were saved our heavy charges for entertaining practically the whole of the competitors for the best part of a fortnight. A large part ot the New Zealand entry fees disappears in refreshments on each green, and nobody would like these cut out. It costs a lot to run the Dominion tournament, as the figures for the last four years will show:—

Three rinks skipped by T. W. Stewart, J. D. Smith and J. Hutchison respectively will represent Dunedin Club at the Dominion tournament. About nine players will take part in the singles, and of course they will all be in the pairs contests. Caledonian will be represented D.v one rink, skipped by -V. Langley. The Dunedin Club championship is m its third round, but as usual it looks as if certain players are hanging back till they get conditions to suit them. Judg-ing-by the use taken of the green allotted them the lady bowlers of the club are taking very keenly to the position and they are displaying"**great interest in their championship singles. An amusing incident happened on one of the New Plymouth bowling greens tne other day. A singles game was being played between Mr A. and Mr B. lor the' club's junior championship. Mr A. played his last bowl and folloyed it up (he green to see the position of the Head and called out to his opponent that he (Mr A.) was two-up. Mr B. played his last bowl, but failed to alter the position. Mr A. did not disturb the bowls, and stood waiting for Mr B. to go along and verify the position, but. unthinkingly, the latter called out, “All right, throw the kitty down, we can measure it afterwards.’’ Dunedin seems to have recovered from its attack of “setbackitis" of last year. So far the old club has been in winning vein this season, and it looks to be well in the running for the new shield. “Marinoto" writes in the Christchurch Press: —“In several clubs this season there have been many complaints about the selectors. This should not be and if the disgruntled players would pause to think tins would not be. Members at the annual meeting elect their officers for the season, and the man elected has the confidence of a majority or he would fail (o get the position—which at best is a thankless one. But it would be well for players to remember the selector has the club’s honour in his hands, and what he does is done in the interest of the club and not of the individual player. True, there are at times weak selectors who pander to certain players, but in this case members have no just cause of complaint, as the error is theirs in having appointed such a man. Support your officials, always bearing in mind that it is quite possible vou have a better opinion of vour play than is*warranted by actual performance. The retirement of Mr H. F. M. Mercer from the secretaryship of the Dvnedin Club is announced after nearly a score of years’ service. Probably no member has brought greater honour to his club than Mr Mercer, who won not only esteem and nrais'fe from all bowlers, but also deserved it for his work and enthusiasm in the cause. His resignation is regretted by all ’ his club mates. Mr A. J. Sullivan is carrying on as acting secretary pending the position being filled.

Lietans oi me nua. Dunedin players will take part m to* Dominion tournament are as follow; — Section A.—Balmacewen (Hindle, Ferguson, M’Donald, Buchan). . Section C.—Dunedin (Gregory, Smith, ■ Bentley, Stewart). Section E.—Caledonian (Carroll, Lindsay. Lloyd, Langley). . Section ‘F. —Green Island (Best, Fastier, Smellie, Harraway). , . Section I.—Dunedin (Rigby, Wilkinson. Sullivan, J. Hutchison). Section N.—Dunedin (Gardiner. Hutchison, Higginson, J. D. Smith). A rink from Melbourne, consisting of Dunham. Booth, Allott. and Swain, and a rink from Victoria Park (New South Wales), comprising Hyland, Harrison, Davis, and Stone will also take part. Southland will send a rink consisting of Ure, M’Robie, Stewart, and Th&mson (runnersup at the Dominion tournament in Dunedin last January). ... The draw for the various sections m the pairs, in which Dunedin will compete. U as follows: — „ , _ Section Al.—At West End: Carlton (Burton and Hosking), Dominion Road (Stephenson and Kelly), Epsom (Taylor and Mingins. Rocky Nook (Purdon and Chapman). Balmacewen (M’Donald and Lambeth), Wanganui (Crawford and Tiley). Section Bl.—At Epsoi Carlton (Edmunds and Gould), Remuera (Kissing and Ryan), Rocky Nook .Farley and Keatley), Wellington (Redmord and Haldane), Balmacewen (Harrison and Buchan), Canterbury (Lewis and Ives). Section B2.—At Epsom: Mount Albert (Harbutt and Mason), Auckland (Brackebush and Walker), Devonport Vrigley and Morgan), Hamilton (Varney and Mitchell), Maitai (A. Dee and W. Dee), Caledonian (Lloyd and Lindsay). , . . Section Cl.—At Carlton No. 1: WanganuiEast (Hutchins and Scriviner), West End (Clarke and Bremner), Auckland (Lyell and Osmond), Devonport (Melville and Miles), Balmacewen (Hindle and Ferguson), Whitiora (Mitchell and Land). Section Dl. —At Ponsonby: Carlton (Holford and Bell), Edendale (Forshaw and Goldsmith), Mount Eden (Turner and Findlay), Onehunga (Robertson and Hills), Dunedin (Smith and Bentley). Edgewaro (West and Efford). Section Fl.—At Stanley: Mount Albert (J. Thomas and C. Thomas), United (Ward and Reese), Otahuhu (Ogilvie and Sykes), Remuera (Hobday and Daniels), Dunedin (Gregory and Stewart). Frankton Junction (Malone and Frost). Section Gl.—At Mount Eden: Remuera (Paterson and Russell). Rocky Nook (Mflner and Eacrleton), Auckland (Bourke and Pig* gott), Epsom (Wallace and Milieu), Dunedin (Higginson and J. D. Smith), Kelbum (M'Coll and Smith). Section Hl.—At Remuera: West End, Auckland (Kirk and Hopwood), Remuera (Watson and Proctor), Carlton (Crate and Brown), Epsom (Haszard and Foubister), Masterton (Wilkinson and Franks), Caledonian (Carroll and Langley). Section J2.—At Sb Hellers: Remuera (Mahon and Blanchard). Takapuna (Hanna and Hooper), Onehunga (Vella and Divingstone), Wellington (Roberts and M'Arthur), Whitiora (Jenkins and Higgott), Green Island (Fastier and Smellie). Section Kl.—At Dominion Road: Remuera (Badeley and Wooller, Carlton (Wrightson and Duffin), Mount Eden (Chambers and Shirriffs), Wellington (Ingram and Mayer), Dunedin (Gardiner and ►Hutchison), Manawatu (Eckersley and Radford). . _ , Section L2.—At Grey Lynn: Onehunga (George and Kenny). Takapuna (Collins and Boulton), Mount Eden (Robertson and Tutt), Wellington ( and Duncan). To Aroha’ (Andrews and Wallace) Green. Island (Best and Harraway). Section M2.—At Ellerslie: Papatoetoo (Daisley and Rawnsley), Rawhiti (M Gouan and Thompson), Mount Eden (Comes and Fraser), Tauranga (Gifford and Allely), Newtown (Carman and Pollock), Victoria Park, New South Wales (Hyland and Stone). Section Q2. —At Devonport: Remuera i an d Meflars). St. Heliers (Brookfield and Keys). West End (Bell and Potter), Pukekohe (Munro and Keith). Dunedin (Rigby and Hutchison), Lower Hutt (Shnn and Johnson). ■ _ -_ . Section R2. —At- Papatoetoe: West Ena (Hill and Colthurst), Waihi (Holmes and Senior), Whangarei (Birch and England), Pukekohe (Roulston and Roulston). Dunedin (Wilkinson and Sullivan), Lower Hutt (Murphy and Campbell. Two pairs from Melbourne will take partThe first comprises Allatt and Swam, and the second Dunham and Booth. _ Southland’s onlv pair (M'Robie and Thomson) will compete against Dunham and Booth in Section 11.

Anderson’s Bay Wins. Losses. 2 Points Bahnacewen ... ‘2 2 1 Caledonian ... 6 — ' 2 Cavefsham ... 3 — Dunedin . - ... 4 2 2 Fairtield ... 1 — Green Island — 2 Kaikorai ... 2 1 2 Raituna ... 3 1 Leith ... — 2 — Mornington ... i 2 — North-East Valley ... — 5 — Otago* ... 2 i 2 Outram ... 1 . Port Chalmers ... 1 1 Roslyn ... 3 .. . — St. Clair ... 2 2 1 ■ St. Hilda ... 4 —. ' 2 Taieri ... 2 — West Harbour 2

Fees. Exp. Result. Locality. £ f £ Auckland . 694 579 Surplus 115 Christchurch . . 622 579 Surplus 83 Wellington . 564 646 Deficit 82 Dunedin ... 762 793 Deficit 31