GOLF.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 144197, 13 September 1913, Page 7

GOLF.

THE LADIES’ CHAMPIONSHIP. PER PRESS ASSOCIATION. NAPIER, September 13. The draw for Monday is as follows: — Mrs. Guy Williams plays Miss L. Brandon, Miss Abraham plays Mrs. Slack, Mrk. Orboll plays Miss Collins, and Miss Robieson plays Miss Hamlin. THE LAW OF LOST BALLS.

(By “A Solicitor” in ‘‘Golfing.”)

Wo should have supposed than tno law of property in lost golf halls, or rather louud golf bails, nad been established with sufficient clearness by now. But a case last week in the Higngato Police Court has been rather misunderstood, and iu consequence of some very milielpuii elucidations or the matter widen have appeared in the daily Press, tile ideas ol many golfers regarding uie legal afreet of eiio matter nave ueeo.ee sadly contused, linens', the case wits tms: A caddie tu tno North Middlesex Cluu was prosecuted by the cruh, rniougn there secretary, ror the then ot a uali, ivnich ho was seen by a plain ciotnes constable to piclc up, and make oil with. The Bench, however, declined to convict, on the ground that mere is no law by w.uca a lost hall becomes die property of the club, vested m tile secretary. Pne magistrates also hclu that there was no evidence to shuw mat lour other halls mund in tno caddies possession were not his own property, and he was aucordrngiy discharged. A great many people have made the mistairo of reading into tiiis decision a great deal more 'man it actually hoars. Uno thing that it certainly uoes not mean is that lost golf bans iu every case become the property ol the finder, and it is perhaps just as well tuat wo should mane this plain. It will perhaps help towards clearer views on the subject u we call attention at the outset to a fact which has been rather lost sight of since this decision began to be discussed, and that is that die law of lost golf balls is precisely tho same as the raw of lost any thing else. In the tirst place, as long as ■ the player is searching for the ball there is no possible donut whoso is tho property in it. It is only when ho abandons tho ball as lost that it becomes a res derelieta, and ho loses tno proprietorial right. And even then the question or abandonment of his property in it cannot arise if lie has taken tho pains to mark tho ball with his name, or in some other way affording a reasonable means by which a etrangof may identify its owner. In those circumstances a person who finds tho ball and makes no effort to discover tho owner would undoubtedly bo guilty of larceny. ■ Equally of course, so long as the property in tho ball remains with tho golfer, ho alono and not tho club or anyone else is the person to prosecute a charge against any alleged thief. , , If, however, the ball is not marked in any way by which a stranger might identify tho owner, it ceases to bo tho golfer's property when ho abandons the search for it. Whether it becomes tho property of tho finder, however, is a question which depends entirely upon where tho ball-is found. If an ownerless article is found within a place to which the public have no access —lor instance, behind tho counter of a shop —it belongs to the person on whose property it is found. If, on tho other hand, it is found in a place to which tho public have access, then the lost article becomes in theory tho property of the Crown, but since the Crown naturally does not worry about such trifles, this in practice means that the finder is entitled to keep it. ... The application of these principles to golf is exceedingly simple. Unmarked balls driven out of bounds into private ground and abandoned become the property of tho owner of tho ground. Balls abandoned on a public road, or on a course over which tho public arc entitled to wander, such as the London commons or St. Andrews, become the property of the finder. Balls lost on a course which is tho private property of the club, and on which the public has no right to bo, follow tho ordinary rule and become tho property ot tho owner of tho ground—that is to say, of tho club. There have boon numerous cases of caddies and others being prosecuted and convicted for stealing lost balls from the grounds of private clubs. Obviously, a great deal depends upon tho ability to prove ownership, and there is no doubt that the simplest way out of the difficulty is for every golfer to have his golf balls marked with his initials or to have his golf halls marked with his initials or othor sufficient means of identification. In that case', tho balls will not cease to be his property in any circumstances. The New Plymouth Club Ims a machine by which halls may ho marked with the registered mark of the owner.