HISTORY OF THE N.Z. BOWLING ASSOCIATION.

Otago Witness, Issue 1956, 20 August 1891, Page 29

HISTORY OF THE N.Z. BOWLING ASSOCIATION.

(Continued.) At the dinner in Watßon's on the evening of the conclusion of the firßt tournament Mr Harry Thomson, of Christchurch, in proposing the fcoaßfc of this association, referred to the greater strictness of the Victorian rules, especially with regard to playera having both feet on the mat. The president, Mr Oallender, in replying took up the oudgels on behalf of this association, and is reported as having said :— " The .Victorians had attempted to coerce New Zealand bowlers into following their ruleß just because they were theirs. The system of playing with both feet upon the mat was both ungainly and unseemly.— (Applause). New Zealand bowlers might be led, but they would not be driven, and the rule of one foot upon the mat obtained in Scotland, the native land of bowling, whete 400 clubs were established." This Bpeeoh called forth a reply from Mr Dowling, secretary of the Oamaru Olub, who fairly ran amuok at the rules of this association, Baying that "it did not appear that bowlera outside the committee of management had any knowledge of the lawa adopted until they were passed and printed ; that If unanimity had been desired a draft of the proposed rule* should have been submitted by the delegates to their Respective principals, andthe criticism of the olubß cordially jinvited. This was not done," &0.,}&0., a Q d he concluded his remarks by saying that '/ the laws of the game aa they appear in Mitohell'B Manual should have been adopted, they being dear arid sufficient ; and he wa*B not alone in his opinion that the lawa of the game put before the oluba by the association were not likely to meet with general adoption, for they indicated hasty preparation, were badly classified, incomplete, and unintelligible." Of course snob a denunciation aroused the ire of the president, and hammor and tongs he went at it again, pointing out to Mr Dowling that the rules had been compiled from Mitchell's Manual, that the constitution and tfraft rules had been submitted to each club in the colony before they were finally approved, and had met with their full approval ;.> and further, that none of the oluba which bad played under them had found them to be " badly classified, incomplete, or unintelligible. .If Mr Dowling'a oontest was simply as' to whether the rules should be one foot or two feet on the mat, he (Mr Oallender) was quite prepared to defend the position he took up, and" had no desire to lorce any bowler to be handicapped by compelling him to conform to his style of play." Mr Dowling replied to this in rather a long letter, pointing out amongst other things one. rule of the Victorian Association, whioh, I am very glad to say,, now is almost aniversally observed in this colony, and that is that the players do not attempt to leave their end of the green until the third player in the rink has delivered his last bowl, when the skips and the playera obange ends. After some general remarks on the whole subject he finished h» reply by appealing to the president not to Blacken off his exertion to obtain a code of laws which would regulate the play and oause the adoption of one method throughout the colonies. This letter brought forth another reply from Mr Oallender and a rejoinder from Mr Dowling, but as each failed to convince the other that he was wrong, it can do no good at this distant period of time to further refer to them. I would like just to say one word on this vexed question of feet upon the mat, and that is that I am strongly in favour of the player having both feet on the mat when he delivers his bowl, and my reason for this ia that the mats in use are generally about 3ft long, and there is plenty of room for the player to stretch his legs in that space. I think that nothing in the game looks uglier, more ungainly, or more unseemly than to see a player with the toes of one foot on the inner edge of the mat, and the other foot Btretched out as far as he possibly can reach up the green before be delivers hia bowl, and I am very sorry to say that that custom obtainß to a very large extent. If I had my way I Bbould disqualify every shot played, no matter by whom, in that position. A meeting of the committee of the association was held in the Grand Hotel on the 29th September 1887, when Mr J. L. Butterworth was elected president for the following season, and Messrs Ourle and Oapstick treasurer and secretary respectively. It was resolved that there should be two tournaments played during the season— one at Ohrißtoburoh in February, and one at Dunedin at Easter, and the medal matohes were drawn aa follow :— Csnterbury play Caledonian at Oamaru Oamaru play Dunedin at Caledonian Balclutha play Boslyn at Milton Ghriatohnroh play Lawrence at Dunedin Milton play Inveroargill at Balolutha Auckland play New Plymouth at New Plymouth. It will thus be seen that the association was increasing rapidly in strength. Twelve clubs being affiliated to it in the second year of its existence betokened a very prosperous and healthy state of affairs, and in addition to these others were expected to join during the Beason, which three did— namely, Taieri, Kaitangata, and Timaru. The first tournameat for the season 1888 was fixed to be played in Ohristohuroh in the second week of February, and it was arranged that the Dnnedin bowlers should leave on Monday, 6th February, and play interolub matobes on the 7th and Bth; the North Island v. South Island match also to be played on the Bth, the rink tournament on the Sfcb, and single-handed tournaments on thellOth and 11th. This was a five-days' programme, but it was compressed into four days so as to allow the Southern playera to reach their homes on Saturday night, the 11th. The result of the various contests all through was that the Chcistchuroh and Canterbury Oluba defeated the Southern players in every match, not a Bingle trophy crossing the Waitaki— a thorough and most deoisive beating certainly. It will be seen from the draws for the medal matohes^tbat the Canterbury and Caledonian C'.ubß we r e pitted against eaoh other, the match to be played on the Oamaru green ; but when a team of three rinks from the latter club was in Ohristohuroh at the tournament it

was thought advisable both by the Canterbury Club and the Oaledoniana that the match should be .played on the Christohurch green, whioh was a neutral one, and thus the expense of a team from the Canterbury Club journeying from Ohrißtchurch and a like team from Dunedin to Oamaru would be saved. Application was accordingly made to the committee of the Bowling Association at Ohristchuroh for permission to do so, and this waß granted, and the match accordingly was played. Unfortunately, however, Mr Butterworth, the president, who did not go to Ohriatchurcb, refused bia consent, and because that the matoh was played in the face of his refusal he resigned bis position as president, and for the same reason Mr Callender retired from the association. Thiß led to some rather aorimonious correspondence in your columns at the time, whioh need not now be further commented upon,

(To oe concluded next week.)