BOWLING.

Otago Witness, Issue 2603, 3 February 1904, Page 54

BOWLING.

Secretaries arc requested tv forward particulars of games played lid of forthcouiiL? matches.

KOTf S BY JACK

The annual tournament of the New Zealand Bowling Association is now a thing of the past, and was chiefly remarkable for two things : first, the fcplcndid weather which was -experienced — rathe*' too hot, if anything; and", seconc, tho surprising number of "notables" who were defeated on the first day in tho first round) of the rink matches. I ha.\e> so otten reviled Mr Paulin and tho other clerks of ihe weather in these notes that it is o^y fair I should make tho "amende honourable.." and thank him and them now for the past pleasant week. Fine sunshiny weather makes a great difference to a person, whether he is a bowler or not, and certainly there was no room foi giowhng last week. As for the many tried and admittedly good playeis, who "lost tho number of then nie«s" in the first round of the links, I can only say it was the fortune of war. They entered to win or lute, and fate waa against them. There were' no longei battalions opposed to them ; they mo-t their opponents on equal terms, anrl what they did not anticipate occurred : the unexpected generally does. I expressed a hope in last weeik's notes that "oor &in fish guts would be kept for oor am sea mows," but m this I have to som« extewt be&n disappointed, ac the first prize ia the rinks went to our Wellington friends for the second time. Last year Biackenridge's rink war? conqueror at Christchurch, and now Mr Prince, from the Newtown Club, Wellington, repeats the dose. This looks like too much of a good thing — rubbing it in, in fact, and whilst giving them every credit for their superioi and successful play, 1 must oonfecs I am selfish enough to have wished that they had taken second place. At the same time I do not by any means grudge them the honours tJ>.ey have so deservedly won. It was a plucky and a lucky thing for them to do — only one rink to come, and win. But at the same time it is only a fair exchange for Otago's win in Auckland, albeit the Newtown team were assisted by a young Greeu Island player, Mr Ernest Harraway, to whom is conceded a not small share of the honours. His play throughout was conftictcntl}'- good, and this for a young player in a tournament is high praise. GreenIsland had two membeis in our winning rink in Auckland. All the more prafee to their club, t-.ay I. I had a chat v.ith one of the players from hers who went to Auckland to take part in the Northern Association's tournament, and he said that he infinitely preferred the system carried out there to the one which obtains here. Ihexe the system io for every club entered to play each othet, and the number of wins and losses is counted, ike club having the greatest number of wins being th& -victor, and each club must entei two rinks. By thai system the olubis get a good deal of play; but although there were a largo number of entrants at Auck land, the rink matches were completed iv four days. Here rink is drawn against rink, and the lowest scorer of the two goes out — eudden death, as it were. It is true that lately ooi solatiou rink priz3s have, be-e-n instituted on the same plan, but .he pan.c, result*, foilow In the Northern Association there are no fingls-handed competitiozis at their tournaments, which I think an error In rir.ks and doubl°e a playei has always his companions to advice and guide him in his play, and oonsole with him in th©_ losts of the contest if such be the case, but in single-handed matches the player is left entirely to his own resources, and" m«:t think and play on his own initiative ; thus ho cultivates self-reliance, and obtains confidence in hnuelf. I am very strongly m favour }f single-handed competitions. At tho came time. I think that a champion like Mr Ai'Laren, who has proved hirtuself by winning this match three times, might very aeasonably be debarred from competition for two ci three years, or be handicapped, just for the encouragement of others. And thut again opens up a v^ry wide question, on which I shouid like to have the epimen of my brother bowlers. But I have been wandering a-»vay from the tournament and its re-sulSs." Although the fir-t prize in the rinks we-it to Wellington. I think all the re«i remained in Otago and Southland, co I think we ought to bo very veil batisfied. If in future tournaments vre do a.s well, v.c may almost start a naitnnl admiration society. The greens were £.11 m good order, but several players told mo that the Caledonian wat> the best of the lot testimony winch must be very flattering to the superintendent and caretaker of that giefii. The photographer was much in evidence, on Fric'sy especiplly. when tho finals wee* I being played on the Caledonian Or^en. Snapshots were ako tak^n as a matter of course I <aw cno. of the genial hOist cf the U-ladsi-one Hotel in Dunedin, and "who is_ no mean piay c r. He is taken as skip of a double-handed march, and hi- partner theiein has played a good phot, vhieh dra->v,. fiom t!.e sld]) tl:e explanation, "Sure i.n-3 itb a dandy boy." The photos are good, and on the whole are very cleverly done. Doub< Ip*s a whole host of views and

iiiao hot-s will appear in thi Witness by-^ and-bye. The only cpowliijg that I heard of daring the whole week wm conic comp'ai-its aoouS narrow bowls, but that cjii vc-ry sakly bo left in the hands of Ihe exeruive to deal v. ilh. Happily there were no protests durl ing the weeK, which i B nuich io be than'kfjl for The smoke concert was as great a «uocses as usual. I wa= ve.y plea~=d to see the prefi entanon macl-e to Mr Wheels'-, who rendered assistance to tho secretaiy. , One man. opr.not attend to everything whe-n. the tournament is held in Dunedin, where the various greene arc so far a,part. It 13 bad enough in Christchurch, but here it ;S!; S! | far worse. I trust Mr Wheeler will live | to use his prp-sent for many yours. I don'n I know whether Mrs Wheeler "a a howler or I not, but assuiodly she cannot bo kfc out j in my congratulations. Anyone who know> what a secretary's voik is hko (especially a married m?.r;) must a'&o bear in miud the text, '"Ti-,cy also serve the Lord who only staaa and wait." And the Iit f le recognition that was given lo her will, I nope, serve to rerrand her &orretimcis that although ehe is not always with us, wo are not unmindful of tie part she quietly playe in our work and game More next week as to 4 ,he play and somj of the p!aj<f»s, not omif-cing decided remaiics that I heard n.s to the neoessit/ o£ giving fuller opportunity to rinks to *ho\v their metal, «hich is not always the case. The illustration is that the Wellington rink •which won the northern championship ban* ncr iost their first game to Hastings, who did not eoofo another winding point. BOWLING AT MILTON". (Fbom Oub Own Correspondent.) MILTON, January 28. The return match between the local Borough. Council and the Club was played on the Milton Club's Green on Wednesday afternoon in beautiful weather, a slight breeze at times tempering the hot rays of the sun Last week's encounter resulted m a substantial win for tne Club (102 — 40), and only one rink of the Council's team was vp — viz., Taylor's ; but this tim-e the veteran skip went down with the rest, and the Club again won. The scores at the finish read as follow: — Council. Club. A. Parlane R. M'Millan A. M'Kechnie J. W. Petrie F. Bastings R. Condon W. Taylor (s) .. 14 J. Nelson (s) . 20 D. Reid T. Allchin C. King A. Cameron R. Robertson W. Walker C. Grey (s) . . .. 10 J. Parlane (s) .. 30 R. M. Brookea G. Fisher R. Murray C. Li. Grant J. Lockhart D. Taylor W. Moore (s) . . . . 18 M. Fleming (s) . . 28 Total .. .. 42 Total .. ..78