EMPIRE’S YOUNG SHOTS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20070, 9 April 1927, Page 21

EMPIRE’S YOUNG SHOTS.

SOUTH AFRICA GAINS KING’S PRIZE. GIRLS WIN LORD HAIG’S SWORD. iFbom Oub Own Cobbebi’ONDiint.) LONDON, February 23. South Africa's ■'Sclioolboys” tor the second successive year have won £lie challenge trophy which the King presented in 1926 to be shot for by teams of not less than 2000, such teams to represent, respectively, Groat Britain, Canada, Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand. This great Empire small-bore rifle match had its beginning in 1910, when Colonel Raymond Ffennell flhanced competitions (and has continued to finance them ever since), which were intended to improve the mass shooting efficiency of the boys of the British Empire. Although in the conditions which govern the contest in its greater size to-day, the term “boy” is always used to define the individual member of the teams, it certainly, in the case of South Africa, is a misnomer, for in the winning team of 2000 there were ini eluded no fewer than seven learns from South African girls’ schools. Moreover, those wonderful little girls did more than just help the dominion team to win. The King’s Trophy is the principal one ol several Empire prizes. There are two Imperial shields and two swords, one presented by Earl Jellicoe, and the other by Earl Haig. GIRLS BEAT BOYS. In the first shoot for the King’s Trophy in 1925, St. Anne’s Diocesan College (Pietermaritzburg) was second for Lord Jellicoe’s sword, and Berg Street Girls’ School (Pietermaritzburg) was second for the sword given by Lord Haig. St Anne’s dropped to third place in last year’s competition, the results of which the National Rifle Association issued a few days ago; but the Berg street girls have gone up, and actually have won Lord Haig’s sword—the sword which he wore daily in France—against some 27,000 boy a ot the British Empire. Many of these male competitors are boys in Service training establishments—over two-thirds of the Mother Country’s team was supplied by naval schools; yet, with the exception of 16 units, all those boys were beaten by the Berg street school girls. The girls, 100, were younger than quite a large proportion of their boy rivals, for while tneir shooting since showed an average of 91.61 out of a possible 100 points, their average age was only 14 years and three months. The Homeland has not done particularly well in the great Empire contest. In the 1925 contest Great Britain’s team was second to South Africa’s, In the 1926 competition the Mother Country was beaten by South Africa, Canada, and Australia. The points in the King’s Trophy were; 1, South Africa, 158,164 points out of a possible 200,000 ; 2, Canada, 156,884; 3, Australia, 142,314; 4, Great Britain, 141,123; 5, New Zealand, 140,526. The shield, for larger senior organisations, was won by the Royal Australian Naval Reserve, Edgecliffe, Sydney, and the senior sword (Earl Jellicoe’s), tor smaller organisations, by another Australia Naval Cadet Union, the R.A. Naval Reserve, Fremantle. The junior shield, for larger organisations, was taken by the Lawrence Royal Military School Cadets, Sanawar, India, and Earl Haig’s sword, for the smaller organisations of “boys” under 15, by the Berg street girls. The King already has sent his congratulations to the South African boys on winning his trophy with such a fine score, and to the Canadian boys, who, 4io said, deserved great praise for their marksmanship. In a letter to the National Rifle Association on the subject, it is said that “the King has seen with much satisfaction the result of the competition for his Majesty’s trophy, and considers that the excellent scores from all parts of the Empire reflect the greatest credit on the boys and their instructors.” FROM 2000 TO 3000, The National Rifle Association itself regards the result with such satisfaction that this year it intends to carry the mass-efficiency campaign a big step forward. The team of 2000 instituted in connection with the first match in 1925 was looked upon by shooting men generally as something of an out-size in teams, and likely to be unwieldy from a clerical point of view. The N.R.A., however has found it so easy to handle that in conjunction with the dominion shooting authorities, it has decided to create another “record" in teams by raising the size for the 1927 match from 2000 to 3000.