BOWLS

Southland Times, Issue 21856, 5 November 1932, Page 14

BOWLS

NEWS OF THE DAY.

(By

“Jack High.”)

Northend travelled to Bluff last Saturday and succeeded in winning both 4_rink and inter-club games. Wesney had a runaway victory against McDougall, but it must be admitted that McDougall had a very weak rink. Dixon, usually a very steady player, could not get going at all, and was of little assistance to his skip. He seemed to get a little downhearted when the score mounted steadily. Keep fighting Bill, the result is not everything in bowls. , Smith and McGorlick finished level. At one stage Smith was well in the lead but over the latter half of the game McGorlick played wonderful bowls and managed to draw level. Hannah and Parry were together all the way, Hannah eventually finishing a few up. The bowling in this game was not of a very high standard. O’Toole with a none too strong team managed to beat Romans by a fair margin. By the way, Saturday last happened to be Bert’s birthday and Mr Romans, president of the Bluff Club, took the opportunity of wishing him many happy returns before commencIt was a coincidence that rival presidents should meet. The Bluff members spared no pains to make the day a very enjoyable one and the lady supporters of the club were present in force to attend to the refreshments which were much enjoyed. On Saturday four rinks from Te Rangi motored to Riverton and played a friendly game against Riverton and Aparima Clubs. Conditions were at their best, perfect weather, beautiful surroundings and a fast green. Needless to say the game was much enjoyed by all. The ladies made the day still more enjoyable by their skilled attention to the inner man’s requirements. At the conclusion of the game Mr T. R. Pryde thanked the players and ladies for the very fine day’s outing, Mr Evans and Mr Philp replying on behalf of the Riverton and Aparima Clubs. At Te Rangi the first game for the “Gold Stars,” kindly donated last season by Mr George Frobarth, was played last week, R. Harper and D. Burrell (skip) winning from the holders, Frobarth and T. R. Pryde (skip), after a very interesting game. Bob Harper distinguished himself by his truly wonderful leading and another victory must be added to his already long list. The competitions at Te Rangi will soon be going in full swing. Partners for the Championship Doubles have been sorted out, and with the green improving every day, the prospects for a successful club season are very bright. A considerable number of new and enthusiastic members have joined up w’ith the club and with the pleasant sporting spirit in evidence, the members anticipate many enjoyable and interesting games. The Bluff Club appear to be weak this year, which is a pity as the club could always be depended upon to upset the calculations of the strongest town combinations. What has gone wrong with Albert Steele? I noticed he was absent last week. The club can ill afford to lose the services of such a splendid bowler and it is to be hoped he will be found in his old place to-day. I understand the members of the Bluff Club, on account of finance, are attending to the green themselves. The green on Saturday last was in excellent shape and reflected great credit on the members responsible. A matter which will cause most clubs some concern this year will be the question of unfinancial members. It is manifestly unfair to financial members to see an unfinancial member taking part in inter-club matches while they are on the bank. In this case it should not be a question of a player’s ability, and unless clubs deal promptly with this aspect of the game they will have many dissatisfied members and possibly many resignations to deal with. The blazer question is also one requiring immediate attention as previously pointed out in these columns. I noticed at least three distinctly different coloured blazers amongst the Northend team on Saturday. The teams from several of the town clubs to take part in the four rink competition have been announced and it is very gratifying to see that the clubs are acting in accordance with the recommendations of the annual meeting of delegates. The proper sporting spirit is in existence in all the clubs and this should prove of great assistance to the Centre Executive. I am in receipt of a book of the season’s fixtures, and a perusal of same would indicate that some mistakes have been made in the draw for the four-rink competition. Some clubs meet each other twice and do not meet other clubs at all. Then again, Bluff, according to the book, do not play as many four-rink games as the town clubs. It may be simply a printer’s error, but in any case, if a mistake appears in the fixtures, same should be remedied. Competitions will be in full swingnext week and “Jack High” would appreciate any notes from bowlers for inclusion in this column.

EASTERN DISTRICT NOTES. The Eastern District interclub competition will commence next week when Gore A will play Gore B, Hokonui A will play Hokonui B and Edendale will play Wyndham. Mataura has the bye. The competition will consist of one round only and will be concluded by the end of January, enabling individual clubs to arrange friendly matches against clubs in other centres. Entries for the Gore Club's Handicap Doubles competition closed on Saturday last, 21 pairs taking part. This is the largest entry received for a number of years and in order to complete the competition within a reasonable time it will be necessary for competitors to play their games within the time allotted by the match committee. In past seasons both the Gore and Hokonui Clubs have had the greatest difficulty in conducting this competition satisfactorily and although all sorts of schemes have been tried they have not been effective. This season, however, the competition has been commenced earlier than usual and if players will co-operate with the committee, it should be possible to reach finality before the holiday season commences. One or two of the Gore Club’s handicap doubles were played on Wednesday afternoon, when a fairly stiff breeze made the conditions tricky—J. Richards (s) and J. Jamieson, both new members of the Club, furnished a surprise by defeating H. Robertson (s) and S. Officer by a fairly substantial margin. Richards played like a veteran and his lead also played a particularly steady game for a first-year player. F. Graham (s) and T. Tu had an interesting and closely contested game against D. Harvey (s) and H. Simpson and had to do their best all the way in order to win. The draw for the doubles came out rather surprisingly, nearly all the strongest skips, including Preece, Barnett, Scobie, Brown and Finlayson being drawn to play in the same section. Their games should be unusually interesting and at the same time, the draw should give encouragement to the less experienced ’•'layers in the remaining sections. The entries for the Hokonui Club’s Handicap Doubles and Champion Singles competitions close on about November 10 and should attract satis-

factory entries. The club also proposes to conduct a colt’s singles competition, which should serve to keep the new players interested. Bowlers throughout the Eastern District generally will regret to hear of the serious illness of Mr E. Frobarth, for many years a member of the Gore Club. It was always a pleasure for bowlers to meet him either on or oft the green and his cheery good nature under all circumstances made association with him extremely pleasant.