BILLIARDS MADE EASY.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10960, 1 May 1907, Page 1 (Supplement)

BILLIARDS MADE EASY.

The invention of the stroke known as the "cradle cannon" threatens to destroy all interest m professional billiard matches. Every day some hitherto second-rate professional is reported as making a break of 6000 or 7000 points by means of this particular stroke, and the first man m the match game who can work the balls into the required ppsit'on for -getting to business with tlie "cradle" stroke 'has liis opponent at his mercy... .The game of billiards lias undergone" a "remarlaible : development m the memory oorf r old men who are still living. . When the father of the renowned John Roberts was at the head of the billiard playing fraternity, a break of 50. was a great event, and the man who could achieve it' was regarded as a phenomenal player. After a time the" 4 "spot stroke," w.lich threatened... to- rob the game of interest for the spectators, who found it tedious to watch a man m his shirt-sleeves' "potting" the red ball into the same pocket several hundred times m succession with a mechanical accuracy that was hot, lees monotonous because of its difficulty for an unskilled amateur. So the abolition of the spot stroke was decreed by the billiard authorities, and the game once more revived. It is not difficult to foresee that the "cradle cannon" will also have to 'be barred if the fascinating pastime of wliich Herbert Spencer -was so fond is to keep its- place m. the world of sport. -.. Tlie cable announces to-day that a player named Aitken made an unfinished break of 7172, including 3580 "cradle cannons," so that he only scored 12 points before getting the balls into position for the great .coup. A few more feats of that kind will, leave the match promoters' with beggarly arrays of empty benches. The exponents 5 of the "cradle stroke" must make hay. while the sun is shining, because a. great . economic law is working against them. When it is once realised that there is no demand on the part .oi =. the -public for "cradle cannons'' the supply- will cease automatically.— Sydney Telegraph.