BOWLING.

Otago Witness, Issue 1843, 18 March 1887, Page 26

BOWLING.

{Secretaries are requested to forward particulars of forthcoming matches.^ NOTES BY JACK. DUNEDIN BOWLING, LAWN TENNIS, AND FIVES CLUB. There was a good muster of members and friends on the Club's grounds on Saturday afternoon, amongst the latter being J. Young, Esq., president of the New South Wales fowling Association. The various clnb prises were being competed for, and also the trophies presented by Mr T.G. Young. - The following are the scores of the principal rinks :— No. l. Btsx. It Young T Culling W Huttpn J Garden 3 Hunter T Fogo S Ferguson (tkip) ...31 JTodd(skJp) ... 9 Ko. 2 RIKK. 3 Edgar Q H Marsden W Sibbin A Mowat AM'Dlarraid . . W Harrop D Russell (skip) ...21 J Jack (skip) ...20 No. 3 Bine. W Hennelly J Leighton T Morris P Plrfe W Wright W Oowie A Thomson (aklp> ... 21 W Forrester (»klp) ... 11 The tournament for the President's bowls, at Lawrence, was finished on Thursday afternoon, .Mr Chalmers' rink being declared 'the winners. The winning rink presented the bowls to Mr Chalmers as an acknowledgment of his good play and generalship. The tournament for the Vice-president's bowls is not yet concluded. There are still one or two rinks to play off. There is some talk of sending a tennis team to Green Island on St. Patrick's Day or on Amuversary Day. . A meeting of the New Zealand Bowling Association was held in the Grand Hotel on Friday night to consider a letter from Mr A. E. Butler, aecretary of the Victorian Bowling Association, suggesting that a team should be sent from New Zealand to compete for a cup at Easter which was open to New Zealand players. It was resolved to reply that owing to the lateness of the season and the short notice it would be impossible to get together a team selected from the different oluba iv the time specified. 1 . The Taieri Advocate gives the following humorous account of the local team's recent visit to Dunedin : — We are told by the secretary that on Saturday afternoon 12 members of our local Bowling Club paid a visit to the Dunedin Bowling Club's green to play a friendly game with their Duuedin brethren of the sward. They were met at the Dunedin railway station by Messrs Callenderand Butterworth (president and vice-president of the New Zealand Bowling Association), who welcomed them heartily on behalf the' Dunedin Bowling Club. A move was- then made for the green, where rinks were arranged, and a two and a-half hours' game set going. The result was most disastrous and perfectly astounding.. It would probably have startled Domine Sampson out of. his customary "Prodigious." There is no need fcojconceal the truth ; Dunedin won. The game, however, was a thoroughly enjoyable one, and the town bowlers, when they had gauged their opponents' ! strength, did all they could to educate them iv i the game both by precept and example. The ! mysteries of "drawing" and "driving" were explained to the callow, and the 'important advice to " tak' plenty o' green'? given and repeated with anxious earnestness. The ." rules for refreshment" were laid dnwn, and their use and necessity impi eased on all. The effect of biscuits and cheese "at a supreme moment is magical, a slip in its administration might mean ■—probably would—the utter annihilation of the game. The Dunedin players were perfect " deeyils," and laid their bowls'to their " skips " requirements as if they had " been pittio' them there wi' their hauns." There was pleasure in watching them, and a greater pleasure in playing against them. One of the Mosgiel players was the proud possessor of a straight ball that was crooked, and a crooked ball that was straight ; there was an occasional confusion of the two. The discharge of these projectiles was iuvariably awaited with breathless suspense,' and the result was frequently ghastly. There was a vague understanding that at some momentous point in the game the straight ball would "draw," but : these hopes were disappointed. 'It did', admirably, however. On one occasion, after warily eluding some "twa three" bowls maliciously I placed to intercept it, it reached the Jack, struck I it violently, then deliberately chased it three or four times round the green and drove it into the ditch, where it engaged in a hand to throat conflict with it until drawn off by an -indignant skip. There is a slight exaggeration here. At 5 15 time was called, and bowling for the day concluded; several members of the Dunedin Club promised to take a run out to Mosgiel shortly, and their visit will be looked for with pleasure. 'A comical incident occurred on board the Penguin at the time of her departure from Taranaki. Just before the u>at left the breakwater a roll of blue ribbons was sent to the Tara« naki bowling representatives by a local man, with a request that they, might be donned and worn until after the interprovincial match with Auckland was over. The request waß acceded to, and each member donned "the. bit o' blue." On arrival at Onehunga yesterday Sir William Fox and Mr Glover (the Alliance lecturer) . came on board, and on Sir William Fox noticing the colours .worn by the bowler! 1 , he expressed his personal satisfaction at seeing such unanimity among them on the'temperance question. The joke was explained to him subsequently, and he enjoyed it as much as his genial nature would permit. The bowlers will, however, • stick to their colours until after the match, according to their compact. NEW ZEALAND BOWLING ASSOCIA- - . . TION'S RULES. Editor, Witness, — I did not anticipate to have again to trespass on your space, but as there is matter in Mr Callender'e letter of tbe 4th March that needs response, I must ask you to favour me once again.* . ' , '. The primary object of my communication of the 25th February was to stimulate the committee of the Association to further action in regard to obtaining a universal adoption of a code of laws of the game of bowls. It appeared to me from the tone of the president's speech at the dinner that an idea existed that they had accomplished their labours, and that their codification was an admitted success. Parenthetically, I referred to the president's remarka regarding the action of the Victorians ; but I did so in modeat terms, for I could not help feeling uncertain as to the correctness of my interpretation of the report of his speech. lam glad to learn that I was mistaken. Beading the speechf* of Mr Thomson- and Mr Callenderl not unnaturally came to the conclusion that the coercion .spoken of by the president as applied by the Victorians, had been exercised by tb&n on tho committee, who were lately employed in corppil

ing rules for the associated clubs. I am glad they have not come into contact with it, but I have made no attempt to defend the Victorian rules. These ueed no defence— they are simple, they are intelligible, and sufficient to provide a discipline on their greens &uch as I have not eeeo anywhere out of Victoria, and I cannot but continue to express a modest hope that these rules should be adopted in New Zealand, if for no other ground but that admitted by Mr Callender, that we cannot expect to play with bowlers from the neighbouring colonies so long as our rules differ and they bo rigidly adhere to their own. However, this is by the way. What I endeavoured to defend was not the Victorian rules, but the Victorian bowlers. Mr Callender explains that the attempt made by them to coerce our bowlers to adopt Victorian rules was made fi t the time when their teams visited New Zealand, three years ago, to play an intercolonial match. Our non-acceptance of their rule obliging the player to keep both feet on the mat instead of one nearly causing the match to fall through. Now what was the rule of the Dunedin club regarding that point at the time? What is the rule of that club, and I am told every other club in New Zealand now ? Is it not identical with the Victorian rule that " the player during delivery of his howl shall keep both feet on the mat.". What tho Victorians told me they had to complain of was that the New Zealand players persistently committed breaches of their own rules. And, Sir, these habits prevail U ow in my club, and on every green that I have had the pleasure of playing on in New Zealand. Bonce there is no uuiformity of method, and precious little discipline. But I have been further informed that this was not the Only ground of complaint that the Victorians had. They havo a rulo, which we have not, and its absence from the association's code gives me reason for founding my presumptuous remark that the code is incomplete."' They adhere scrupulously to this rule, as I found from experience they did to all their rules. It is this : " The leaders, Bcorerß, and measurers, when not delivering their bowls, shall stand behind the mat-line until the last bowl has been played by the measures, when they shall all exchange ends with the captains. . . ." This was the order they desired to have followed in New Zealand, but they were met with a refusal. I have seen matches played., and have taken part in them, both here and in Victoria, and I know the difference that such a rule makes in the comfort end style of the game. Here was cause enough to make them hesitate — indeed, if they had not been a jolly lot of good-natured gentlemen, they would have returned to their own greens without submitting to the inconvenience that follows on the breach of laws, and the absence of rules calculated to preserve order.

Once again let me modestly refer to the work of the Association and the new rules compiled by them. I note that our worthy president Bays tfiafc I am. not correct in my statement that bowlers outside the committee knew nothing of the rules until they were passed. On the contrary, that no steps were taken without printed slips being sent to all the clubs in New Zealand. I regret that the neglect to furnish these to the Oamaru club led me into making the statement I did. We never saw any printed slips, nor did we know anything at all of what was being done, until the secretary was supplied with a packet of pamphlets, in completed form, with a memorandum of cost attached. What had our club done that we should not have the same opportunity of having a say in the compilation of ruleß accorded to other clubs ? lam sorry that I wrote the paragraph I did without first making inquiries, but I am sorrier still to learn of this slight. Did the executive fear that in our club there was one man at anyrate who was so enthusiastic a bowler as to be likely to take an interest in the compilation, and who might have some inexperienced colonial suggestions to make?

Mr Callender says that the club have adopted and approved the Association rules. I am right glad to hear it, for then there is some prospect after all of our Association accomplishing the useful work of establishing a universal code. The president is, of course, in a position to know, while without a lot of trouble I canuofc gain the information. The Oamaru Club has, however, not adoptedjthern, and in a memo. addressed to our delegates I pointed out the reason why they did not approve them. Further, when I played on the Christchurch Club's green last Christmas time, I learnt with surprise that that club had not even considered them.

I trust the president will not suppose that because the clubs played at- the Association medal games there was a general acceptance of the Association's code. When the Oamaru Club had the pleasure of meeting their Balclutha opponents they were actuated by the desire to good humouredly enjoy themselves without inconveniencing their rivals. And in the exercise of that spirit we thought very little about what rules we played under. We gave, and we took^and, like well-behaved fellows, said little. But speaking for myself in answer to Mr Calender's query, I must say that I should have preferred that both sides had been educated to play a stricter game under uniform and convenient laws. Indeed, I confess that bad I been other than a phlegmatic and inoffensive Saxon I should have found enough in that very game to irritate me into a forgetfulness of the laws of good breeding as well as of bowling. I am conscious of having trespassed too much on your space but I cannot conclude without a passing reference to the game as played in Scotland, and that played in Victoria. I am assured by a Glasgow man, who is a bowler, and who has played there within tho last year or bo, that there is by no means unanimity ,in the 30 clubs existing there, regarding such points aa the position of players when delivering their bowls. Some olubs.are conservative, and follow rules some 200 year old, while others nominally adhering to printed regulations, admit many innovations. In Victoria, however, though bowling is a recent introduction, I find there is a remarkable agreement prevailing on all points regulating the game. They have some 20 clubs there already, snowing what rapid strides the game is making; and I attribute their agraementto the influence of the Viotonan Association, who have managed their affaire with such tact that in a very short space of time they have accomplished the objects tor which they werecalled into existence, and of which they have reason to boast. I commend this colonial success to our president, and beg to assure him that in his endeavours to unite the various clubs in New Zealand, he has my hearty co-operation, and for his exertions to Btimulate an interest in our game, as ready an *pplau6e as that accorded to him by the 114 bowlers who greeted him at the tournament S? n f \ } tth. hh t ye own fancies on certain pints, but shall not follow them in opposition to the majority ; at the same time I appeal w the president not to slack off his exertion to obtain a code of laws which will regulate our mX 1 a^ .°!v 8e *, he of ene method toroughout the colonies.— Yours, &c,