HOW THE BELT WaS WON.

Colonist, Volume XLVI, Issue 10974, 14 March 1904, Page 2

HOW THE BELT WaS WON.

In view of the very keen interest taken by the citizens of Nelson, and the residents throughout the district generally in the meritorious performances of Sergt Ohing and ColorSergt. Ir.vine, the following extract, taken from the "Evening Post's" report of the final stages of the shooting, will be read with interest— ' ' When the fifty marksmen finally started to shoot for the Belt, at 3.40 o'clock, the gale had dropped to a gentle breeze, and the event was got off under satisfactory conditions. There was no 'burst up' amongst marksmen. The twelve prize winners came from the thirty men who had gone down to the range with the highest aggregates, the four winners of the coveted stars were amongst the five highest aggregates, whilst Sergt. Ching maintained his lead to the finish, beating his corps mate, Color-Sergt Irvine, by three points, and the latter displaced Captain Domigan (second in the aggregates) by nine points. Eifleman J. Wilson, Corporal Sandford, and Private 'G. Loveday,who were in the fourth, fifth and seventh places respectively when they started upon the final stage, tied with 528 each for the third place. The fact that six of the seven leaders in the aggregates before the final stage began were not displaced in the final is evidence of very consistent shooting. The result of the King's Prize match provided a great triumph for the Volunteers, who completely turned their tables upon their friendly rivals, the rifle club men. At the previous two meetings riflemen 'scooped the pool.' Last year two members of the Opaki (Masterton) Rifle Club, King and Hyde, were champion and runner-up. This afternoon two members of a Volunteer corps, Sergte. Ching and Irvine, performed a similar feat, and the third and fourth men were also Volunteers. So the honors this year have gone to the service. "Naturally, the centre of interest this afternoon was in the vicinity of Ching, Domigan, and Irvine. This fact did not; seem to trouble the men from 'Sleepy Hollow' much, and least of all the Stoke"farmer, who shared No. 23 target with Captain Skinner, of Auckland. There was constant comparison between the boards of the Nelson sergeants and the Gore captain, whose targets were adjacent. Domigan and Irvine both started business with 'bulls,' but Ching could only manage a magpie. Irvine's next two shots were outers. Domigan missed the target and then found the bull's-eye, and Ching got another ' maggie and an inner. Ir- - vine scored three inners, found the ' bull, ' again got another four, and another brace of outers. The captain from Gore replied with a pair of braces, an inner, a magpie, a second miss, and then got fairly on the coveted spot twice. In the meantime the Stoke farmer got all round his target with an outer, a bull, an inner, and a magpie, and then a miss, which was followed by two bull's-eyeß. At this stage of the game interest in Domigan _ was dropped, and Irvine became Ching's greatest rival, and a likely looking champion. In their first ten shots, Ching had scored 34, Irvine 34, and Domigan 31. Ching's eleventh and twelfth shot yielded only five points, and Irvine's double that number with two bulls. That brought the aggregates of the two Waimea comrades to within two points — Ching