FEDERAL RIFLE MEETING.

Otago Witness, Issue 2330, 27 October 1898, Page 13

FEDERAL RIFLE MEETING.

SYDNEY, October 18. At the Federal Rifle meeting the weather was beautiful, a light nor'-easter prevailing. In the Paddington Match, at 600 yards, ten shots, the New Zealand scores are : — King, 44; McGregor, Wilson (Woodville), and Spinley, each 42 ; Orr, 38 ; Hale, 37 ; Wilson (Wellington), 36 ; Ballinger, 35. The Paddington Match was won by M'Cally, New South Wales, with a score of 49 out of 50 at 600 yards. The New Zealand prizetakers are : — King, £2 ; Spinley, Wilson (Woodville), and M'Gregor, £1 each. In the Jacques Match, 600 and 700 yards, seven shots at each, the New Zealand scores were : —

The shooting to-day was an improvement on yesterday, but, speaking generally, was below the standard. The Jacques Match was won by Gatty, of Tasmania, with 63 out of 70. King, Hale, Wilson (Wellington), and M'Gregor were in the prize list. Ballinger won a £1 prize in the Continuous Match. The New Zealand team competed in the Australia Cup. October 19. It was a blazing hot day at noon, and a strong wind was "Hopping about treacherously. There has been a southerly change within the last hour. The wind continued tricky all the afternoon. King won the Manning Match, firing splendidly. The crowd centred round the Oamaru shot as he approached 63, the best previous score. With his two last shots be obtained bull's-eyes, the onlookers cheering the first win of the New Zealanders. The Sydney Match, ten shots at 700 yards, was won by Donlan, of New South Wales, with 46. The New Zealand scores were : — M'Gregor and Hale, 38 ; Spinley, 36 ; King and Wilson (WoodvilH, 31 ; Wilson (Wellington) and Ballinger, 29 ; Grr, 25. M'Gregor and Hale secured £1 each. The Manning Match, at 700 yards and 800 yards, seven shots, was won by King with the fine score of 67 out of 70. The scores of the New Zealanders were : — King (34 and 33), 67 ; M'Gregor (26 and 31), 57; Ballinger (32 and 24), 56; Wilson (Wellington, 23 and 29), 52 ; Hale (28 and 21), 49; Wilson, Woodville (30 and 19), 49 ; Spinley (21 and 27), 48 ; Orr (13 and 11), 24. The New Zealanders found the heat today extremely trying. Commins, of Ballarat, won the Association Aggregate, which comprised the Paddington, Randwick, and Sydney matches, with 131. Draper, of New South Wales, is leading for the Queen's Prize with 302. King's aggregate is 281 : M'Grecor's. 279 ; Hales.

269 ; Bailmger, 248. The final stage will be fired to-morrow. In the Manning Match King takes £10, M'Gregor and Hallinger HI each. 6 In the Association Aggregate M'Gregor is i mr nt i efc n T ith 121> and ta^ es £3 5 Wilson ( Woodville) secured £1 with 110. October 20. o E s° r & ? re t° be made to g et the New bouth Wales Rifle Association to re-enter | the lederal Council, from which they ; seceded mainly as the result of the other colonies sending teams to Bisley on their own account. The New South Wales Council affirmed the desirability of re-entry into the Federal Council, but discovered that the majority is inadequate. Two members will I attend the Federal Council's meeting and i i? porfc c, to th^ local council. Several leading New South Wales members contend that as I the local council are stronger than all the i others put together, they have everything to lose and nothing to gain by re-entry into I the federation, which is regarded as really , being of no practical use to rifle-shooting. I It was blowing hard and gusty and cold to-day. The shooting was in-and-out. Afc 800 yards of the Dangar Match M'Gregor made , ?,fv o fPinley 2% King 21, Wilfon (Woodville) 28, Hale, Ballinger, Wilson each 20, Orr 19. At 900 yards King burst u P> only getting 8 on. M'Gregor, who, with the exception of the bad luck due to Mondays gale, shot consistently throughout, put on 30 at the long range, bringing his aggregate up to 338, and he is well up in the first division for the Queen's Prize. Tho Queen's Prize was won by Draper (Sydney? with 350, M'Cally (Sydney) befn? second with 349. B The following i s the result of the Queen's Prize : --Draper, New South Wales, 350; M'Cally, New South Wajes, 349 ; M'Gregor Oamaru, 348; Carter, Victoria, 338.' M'Gregor, for getting third position, receives £25. The other New Zealand aggregates are:— Wilson, Woodville, 311 j ; King Oamaru, 310 ; Hale, Wellington, 308 ; Spinl ley, Auckland, 298 ; W. Ballinger, Wellington, 286; Wilson, Wellington, 285- Orr Auckland, 235. ' In the Dangar Match, 800 and 900 yards, seven shots, the scores of the New Zealanders were:— Wilson, Woodville (28 and 28), 56 ; M'Gregor (24 and 30), 54 ; Spinley (22 and 24), 46; Wilson, Wellington (20 and 24), 44 • Orr (19 and 20), 39 ; Hale (20 and 19), 39 ; Ballinger (20 and 18), 38; King (21 and 8), 29. B Drizzling rain fe]l this afternoon. M'Neil (Victoria) won the Dangar Match with 59. Wilson {Woodville) was fourth, and takes £7; M'Gregor, seventh, takes £3 ; and Spinley takes £1. Seven out of the eight New Zealanders got in the Queen's aggregate, Orr being the exception. The Australian Cup will be fired to-morrow. October 21. In the Queen's Prize competition at the Rifle Association meeting other New Zealand competitors take the following prizes:' Wilson (Woodville) 45th, King 49th, Hale 55th, Spinley 90th— £3 each ; Wilson (Wellington) 159 th, Ballinger 164th — £2 each. The Rapid-firing Match, ten shots in two minutes, was won by Etchell, of Queensland, with 47. All the New Zealanders were counted out, Hale being best with 35. Torrents of rain fell all day, and there was a perfect deluge during the shooting for the Australian Cup, ten shots at 500, 600, 800, and 900 yards. The Cup was won by Victoria with a score of 1193 ; Queensland, 1141 ; New South Wales, 1100 ; New Zealand, 1091 ; Tasmania, 1026 ; South Australia, 976. The following are the individual scores of the New Zealand team in the Australian Cup : —

October 23. There was a meeting of the New South; Wales Rifle Council with regard *o the Federal Match. One section who favoured rejoining the Federal Council selected a team to compete on Monday, and posted it on the official board. Others tore it down, subsequently a violent altercation took placa between several members. It is believed a team of some kind will fire as * protest. The association's shooting concluded yesterday. Sergeant Keevers, of the First Regiment, won the Final Match with a score of 48. Spinley, of Auckland, was sixth, and wins £3. October 24. New South Wales competed in the Federal shooting match. The result was : — Queensland .. ... „. ... 1633 New South Wales .„ « „..• 1633 Victoria ... „, .. -.w 1547 Tasmania .. „. *• .» 1539 South Australia .„ «r .. 1476 The New Zealanders were not numerically strong enough to coniDete.

goo yds. Ballinger „ ..43 King .. .. 41 Spinley .. ..40 "Wilson, Wooclville 34 Hale .. ..37 MacGregor . . 42 "Wilson, Wellington 26 Orr .., .. 80 600 £00 yds. yds. 41 40 36 39 40 35 40 39 31 42 42 40 38 29 37 30 900 yds. Tl. 34 — 158 32 — 148 29 — 144 31 — 144 30 — 140 14 — 138 26 — 119 3 — 100 1091

King Wilson (Wellington) M'Gregor „ , Eale Bpinley „ ajl 3rr Ballinger Wilson (Woodville) #• •9-* yds. 30 28 30 23 25 22 25 16 yds. TI. 28 — 58 27 — 55 25 — 55 31 — 5i 25 — 50 25 — 47 19 — 44 23 — 39