THE INVERCARGILL TOURNAMENT.

Otago Witness, Issue 2668, 3 May 1905, Page 34

THE INVERCARGILL TOURNAMENT.

J (Special to the Daily Times.) Well, yes, it did rain f There's no gainsaying that fact, or, as a patriotio Southlander, I should be in a hurry io deny most stoutly the possibility of oar annual bowling festival being interfered with l>y the weather. But this time there's no getting away from it. However, even the great amount of rain wag powerless to damp the spirit of -enthusiasm that characterised the meeting, and both those who •played and those who watched had ample opportunities for noting A thousand incidents that stir the mind 'To pleasure such as leaves no -sting behind. Bowlers .are supposed to be pre-eminently - J°Uy .good fellows, and there was certainly no lack of jolly goodfellowship among those who .assembled on the' Invereargill greens ; - but I am «ure that no one will grudge a' special compliment in. -this connection 'to Payne's and Dall's rinks. The losers in_ tournaments form .such a- large majority that one must < learn to take defeat philosophically, but these two -teams had the -appearance of absolutely enjoying -it. In "the ordinary Kink Match Payne was beaten by R. Taylor — rather, I should say, his team : was, for Payne himself playefl a .rattling ' , game, — --and he was quite jolly over it ; . in the Champion game, when" he lost to Ham by one point, after what has been termed "the finest game played in the tourJ nament," he was as warm in his congratulations to the North-End skip as the mostenthusiastic barraoker, and his men showed . the same fine spirit. Verily, it -was & -good, thing that the vice-president of the N.Z.B.A.' decided to 'take part in the games, as it ' gave Southlanders a better opportunity ' of knowing him than is provided by the Dunedin and sChristchurch .gatherings. Dall and co. likewise have made themj selves most popular in InvereaTgiH. They j played the game for all it was worth ; j they were as keen on -winning as any , ' players in the competition ; yet so pleasantly ; did they carry on their part of the .contest, so freely did they accord their meed of praise for an opponent's display of skill, and withal so generously did Dall himself refrain from commenting on two or three "■flukes" that lost him the game against Ham, that a splendid object lesson was afforded as to how the gentle game of bowls should be played. It was generally considered, before a bowl was thrown, that Lock's Gore team had as : good a chance of winning as any that had entered. Wilson is a iSrst-elass lead, and • for the most part he played tip to his i reputation. True, he was somewhat off ' colour in the final -match against. the North- ' End rink, his opponent, Wallace, beating , him easily; "but he did quite well enough , in the other games to -save him any qualms — and I heard him giving utterance to some — •on i;hat account. Indeed, but fotr his wonderful accuracy,' Sneddon would have beatenj Lock for the section win, of that there can !b c no manner of doubt. How Dewar gets go much success puzzles me. He has a j most awkward delivery, and sometimes alI xnost falls over — H. Smeaton, by the way, is like him in this respect, — but the bowls • seem to get there all the same. W. P. i Craig is reckoned by -some to be the i strongest man in the rink, and certainly he I played a fine game, which helped very ' materially to placing Gore on top. He j plays very straight bowls, and there might have been a catastrophe had W. Dall ' been present with his testing machine. Craig is such a sterling player that I think it a pity he doesn't get bowls a trifle -wider, or, failine that, get his own stanroed — if he can. T. Lock is, for a skip, rather too quiet, but he is playing as well as ever. Indeed, he practically won the final aeainst Ham for the big prize, as on four different occasions he had a Head of five shots lying against him. .On two of these he broke up the head, and drove the jack out of bounds ; on one of thorn he scored three shots by taking it to the ditch; while on tho remaining one he secured second shot — j not a bad record. I Carswell'.s Taieri team was nowhere in j the section games, but gained third prize in th*> ordinary Rink Match. What pesi sosscd Carswell to take Tait as third player j when he might have had Tom Mackie is bevoxid comprehension. Sneddon 's Kaituna rink had hard luck in the Championship event. They won j four matches, losing the fifth to liOck after a great struggle by one point. I thmk it 1 would not be a had plan to allow into the finals those who get first and second place« in the section*. D. Macpherson. second player, played ac->sterling gam-p in tho match acainst Look, hut in some of the others — notab'v in tho final against Hain — ho was nowhpre. .7. Sanders led well throughout. T. Sanders is far too excit-

able, one would think, to be a successful bowler, and yet his record gives the I' ft to that impression. I am sure, however, that to him, as everyone else, fhe poet's words hold gcod : Know prudent, cautious, self-control is wisdom's root.

Sn-eddon proved himself the same wiee old general thai %ye are accustomed to, with one exception. . It does no manner of good to ishow displeasure over bad shots. It cannot be too strongly insisted that the player feels such things more than anyone else, and gibes only make him feel -desperate, and play worse.

Ham had a strong rink representing North-End. The lead, Wallace, gained for himself the reputation of being the best in the tournament, and, indeed, it -was thoroughly deserved. His play throughout was a treat to see, and helped largely to the success of this particular rink.

In the Championship Match against Dall (semi-final), when 15 heads had been played and the score was level, Ham called out, " Now, Wallace, one on the jack wins the game." On the jack came the bowl, and it did win the game. James Allen played a consistently good game throughout. (In the ordinary Rink Game Allen was replaced by a young player — J. A. Wesney, — who shaped remarkably -well.) M ll wrick was hardly the M'llwrick we have been accustomed to, but at times he -got there in his old style. He may be credited with winning- three " games for his rink with his last bowl of ,the game. Against W. Smith, when Ham was one down and one end to -go, Mac. took- out two of his opponent's shots, and -so settled that match; against Payne he trailed the jack, and lay alongside it — another win; and when Dall was three up with one end to go, again, .he came to the rescue with a lovely trail, scoring three for his side ; Ham drawing the fourth that secured the win. Verily, M'llwribk has plenty of fight in him yet. Ham -was in his best form, and got in some fine shots.

Altogether, in spite of the adverse weather conditions, the gathering was. -most successful. One important factor that went a long way to ensure this success was the indefatigable manner in which the ladies looked after the wants of the bowlers. From 10 o'clock in the morning right on till half-past 5 tea and its accompaniments were dispensed, and in such & fashion ihattbowlers were made to feel that ,they were conferring a favour by going in to g-efc some. Truly, the Invereargill Executive has much tothank the ladies for.

The smoke concert was a most sociable affair. From remarks made thereat it seems tolerably certain that the first attempt ■at a ,big prize event will be the last, so far as Invereargill -is concerned. In future it is anticipated that there will be only a Rink Match and a Pairs Mateh — the played in sections, the second on the two-life system. • - I± just .occurs to me that I have omitted •to mention a most unassuming quartet "that •woi^their way into the hearts -df all the other- placers — the" Caledonian team 'of colts. It was a very gallant fight that -they put up in the Rink Ktatch against Sneddon, towards' the .close of, that competrtaon, ancl in the Doubles Callender -and Scott negotiated, with conspicuous success, 'some very heavy metal before going under to Ham. -and Mil wrick. Here is their record : ' Tnthe first round they beat Wakefield and Jeffrey (Lawrence), 18 — 6; in the next Mackie and Mackie.' Then they showed a clean .pair of heels to T. ILook. -and Wilson, of .Gore ; next Reid and Smith (Kaituna) went down before them in most hollow fashion; but in their -succeeding game they lost. However, they secured fourth prize and the hearty good .wishes of all who sasr them play.

Mr W. F. Maseegr, M.H.R.., anticipates of the Opposition wiH be exceedingly heavy^.that from the present up to the date of", the general election his duties as Leader^' Not only will he have his ordinary parliamentary work to attend to, but there wilt be the extra task this t year -of -organisingforces for the election, -which is expected to take place in November or December. Even, last session the work that Tell to Mr Massey's let was of a most arduous nature, and it was only by adopting a systematic plan of dealing with it that he was able to reply to the numerous letters that; reached him from all parts of ih-e colony .and to devote lime to other matters that called for 'his attention. Mr M&ssey will have the assistance of a secretary — Mr Hill, of Wellington — in the coming session.

The Mataura Ensign says : — " A public meeting under the auspices of the Waikaka Railway League was held on Saturday night, to take definite .action in regard to tho proposals made by Mr W. Fraser, MJH.R., for forming a company to raise money for the purpose of securing the immediate construction of the Gore-Waikaka railway. Mr D. M'Kenzie presided, and there were 10 others present. Mr Fraser's scheme was discussed at length and heartily approved. Messrs D. Lamb, J. Brosnan, and W. M'Gilß were appointed to canvass the district for shares '.for the purpose of floating a loan, for the New Zealand Government, the proceeds of which loan are to be applied solely to the construction of the railway from Gor« to Waikaka, and in the event of the said company being formed the persons signing the canvassing lists agree to take up the* number of shares set against their respective names.' It was resolved that every shareholder be acquainted with the fact that £10 would be the extent of his liability upon each share. The meeting recommended that the railway should be constructed underpublic contract."'

The University Council has appointed Dr W. Marshall Macdonald to the position of medical tutor and Dr F. R. Riley to that of surgical tutor in connection with the Medical School.

There is to be issued shortly by a leading publisher a collection of New Zealand! verse, of which Messrs W. F. Alexander and A. E. Currie, both of Chrisfcchurch, are the editors. They are particularly anxious not to overlook any verse that -has not yet been published in book form, and they will be arlad to giv-e their consideration to any MSS. submitted for their inspection, which should be forwarded to P.O. box 54-7, Christchurciu