Draughts Items.

Otago Witness, Issue 2111, 9 August 1894, Page 38

Draughts Items.

United States v. Great Britain. -—The semi-official suggestion thrown out by Air JJurffin, of Boston, at the in tornatioiml meeting in London legarding the practicability of a tl\ mi }* ch between .six pkyers of the United States an sfx although our American S seems to be quite smguino to the contrary. As regard" the first four players, the i&noricni is have no hesitation in nan n* Freeman (Providence) Barl-fl? (Boston), Reed (Pittsburg) am Heftnor (Providence) -after them the vote would soom to incline towards Dr Schaefo • of 0l f lyi \, for the fifth Soand for the sixth opinion in dines towards Hefter of admit of a two-months' leave of absence ; for it aunoaix <« l « agreed that if theSch tokos place at all it should be played iv Glasgow where the > V t to would yield quite £100. Boreham v.Brodie.-We believe negotiations have been success fo lycone hided for the , we of tho large reading room of Watson^ O.nimercial Hotel n which to play the match a better room could hardly be m£ cured, as a large number of people can get a very clear view ropes' bOiU ' d fnm ou *«Wo the Mr Crookston. -Mr Crookston of Roxburgh returned from his W? 1 r.° Ug H A «st«ilia this wee" Wo had a flying visit f j{ • and l!o,H ay hh T le - lle is nilo and hearty, and appears to have enjoyed his tour immensely He had only a few hours in Inver" carg.ll, so did no play there It s very probable Mr Crookston will bo in Dunedin during tli" progress of the coming mtch in which case ho will he re'of refer undortako the duties

lapanui— lapanui lias formed a chess and draughts club, startVJ S w lfc jA a , m «'>ibership of 22 Mr )7v. Sl^ clai V s President, and and kfr t" o^ v ice-president, and Mr 1. M'Ahster secretary aud treasurer.

Match at Arrow.— Messrs W. Selby and W. J. Marsh, of Arrowtown, played for a trophy (the size of the winner's head) on Monday July 30. Most of the local players turned up to witness tlie play. The match was to consist of 12 games. When the ninth game was finished the scores stood — Marsh, ,6 ; Selby, 1 ; drawn, 2. Obviously there was no need to play the full complement of games. Mr l ng ij s was ti , ke r e Per, and Mr T. Lister referee. — |Mr Marsh lias evidently improved his shining hours by hard practice. With Mr Brodie his score was-Brodio, 12; Marsh, 3 ; aud 3 draws.]

An Association.— Ouresteemed contributor, Mr W. J. Marsh writes, "It is almost to bo regretted that Otago or New Zealand has not a draughts association, which wouldcouduct annual championship tournaments under proper ruW and whose rules would a'so apply in case of special interim challenges to the holder. lam led to remark this from a consideration of the fait that either Mr Boreham or Mr Brodie ia going '° Jose £25 by their match. Better for the game if a prizewere offered by an association out of funds Bub-cribed It would not be a bad idea to subscribe a small sum to go to the loser as a slight recompense to one of two gooa pluyero." The People's Game. —Discussions are frequently heard and read concerning the relative merits of the games of chess and draughts ;' but draughts is indisputably the people's game. Let anyone glance at the column in this week's Witness (or any week for the matter of that) and see the number of correspondents, local problems and g unes, and the conclusion is forced upon him that draughts ia the more popular game, albeit that it gets less patronage from high quarters.— W. J. M.

"Barker, Freeman, and Reed can defeat a like number with the entire world to choose from." — N. Y. Clipper. " A cock can craw best on its am niiddenheid !" Send them over here; we have half a dozen "triumvirates" that could give them » wa rni reception.— Glasgow Draughts World.

Bris ba n c.— A monster draughts match was played between North aud South Brisbane recently, there being 204 enRaged in the contest, and about 000 people 1 'okmg on. The scores were :— South Brisbane, i'l I North Brisbane, lf-7 ; and ■i\) draws.