Bowling Season Opened : City Clubs To Make Start Next Week

Southland Times, Issue 23942, 7 October 1939, Page 16

Bowling Season Opened : City Clubs To Make Start Next Week

By

JACK HIGH

The bowling season in Southland was opened on Saturday, but another week or so will pass before the season will be in full swing. Ohai, a club which has just been granted affiliation to the Southland centre, and Waikiwi were the only clubs which held official openings. Today two country clubs, Tuatapere and Nightcaps, will make a start, and next Saturday several of the city clubs will hold openings. The city clubs which intend opening their greens next Saturday are as follows: Northend, Southland, Waihopai, Returned Soldiers’ Association, Georgetown, Te Rangi and Southland. The Riverton Club also will hold an opening day. Bowlers who went to Waikiwi green, last Saturday said that the green was in good order and that a good game was obtainable. At Ohai, also, bowlers were impressed with the playing surface of the new green. City greens generally are looking very well. The last two weeks of good weather have worked wonders on the surfaces and by next week the greens are expected to be in first-class order. The annual Labour Day tournament of the Northend Club will be held as usual. That fixture, probably the most popular of the early-season fixtures, will mark the opening of the competitive season in Southland. Already good entries have been received by the secretary of the club (Mr S. C. K. Smith), and it is confidently expected by the committee that the full green will be occupied on the day. Entries close on October 16 and the draw for the first round will be printed in The Southland Times on Tuesday, October 17. SOUTH ISLAND CHAMPIONSHIPS An outstanding event in the activities of the Southland bowling centre this season will be the South Island championship tournament which will be held at Invercargill at Christmas and New Year and will take the place of the annual New Year tournament. Good

support of the tournament has been promised by many bowlers in other centres and it is expected that it will be one of the most successful sporting fixtures conducted in Invercargill. Championships will be conducted in three events, singles, pairs and fours. The annual report of the New Zealand Bowling Association for 1938-39 states there are 19,039 bowlers, with 22 centres and 382 clubs, in the Dominion, and an increase of 824 members for the season.

The Southland centre was not alone in its application for permission to conduct a South Island tournament this season. At the last meeting of the executive of the New Zealand Bowling Association an application to conduct the South Island fours and pairs championships was received from the West Coast centre. The executive informed the applicant that as permission to hold a South Island tournament had been granted to the Southland centre it could not grant the permission sought. The dates mentioned by the West Coast centre were February 12 to 17. The centre will hold its annual tournament at Greymouth on those dates. APPLICATION FOR GRANT An application by the Southland centre for a part of the sum of money (£400) granted to the New Zealand Bowling Association from the funds af the Grand Sports Art Union was refused on the grounds that allocations had been made before the Southland centre made its application. According to the minutes of the last meeting of the executive of the association the £4OO is to be devoted to putting in order and maintaining country greens which may be required for the New Zealand championship (centennial) tournament at Wellington. It is understood that the Southland centre will make another application to the New Zealand association for a grant of £5O towards the cost of conducting the South Island tournament.