BOWLING.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17180, 25 October 1923, Page 4

BOWLING.

NOTES FROM THE GREENS.

CENTRE COMPETITIONS.

A commencement -will be made with the centre competitions on Saturday afternoon. All the clubs that have teams entered for the competitions have now held their opening ceremonies, and though the playing conditions have not been all that could be desired, during the past week or two bowlers gener ally will be glad of the opportunity of taking part in inter-club games. Tlufollowing is a list of the matches set down for Saturday : FOUR-RINK CHAMPIONSHIP. Section A. Pt Albans v. Linwood, at St Albans. Rangiora. v. Kaiapoi, at Kaiapoi. Opawa v. Beckenham, at Opawa. Fdgeware a bye. New Brighton v. Sumner, at New New Brighton. United v. Paparui, at Papanui. Canterbury v. Christchurch, at Canter Sruenham a bye. PENNANT COMPETITION. Section A. Fdgewatxs v. Kaiapoi W.M.C., at Kaiapoi. > St Albans v. bin wood, at bin wood. Sydenham v. St Albans, at Sydenham. Section B. Belfast v. Sumner, at Belfast. Edge ware v. United, at United. St Albans v. binwood. at St Albans. Section C. Keathoote r. Sumner, at Sumner. Sydenham v. St Albans, at yclenham. United v. Rangiora, at Rangiora. New Brighton a- bye. Section T>. Paparua v. Edge ware. at. Edge ware. Canterbury v. Beckenham, at Beckenham. Opawa v. binwood. at binwood. St Albans a, bye. Although the Canterbury Club has opened the green for play, tli-a forma! opening ceremony has not been held on account of the president, Mr J. E. Danks. being away from the Dominion. Mr Danks, who has been on a holiday visit to the Old Country, is expected to return to Christchurch in about a fortnight’s time, and Mr C. E. Otley, n prominent member of the dub, who has also been on a visit to the Old Country. is due back at - about the same time. It is proposed to held a ladies’ day at the green shortly after their Several meetings of the sub-commit-tees set up to make arrangements for the forthcoming Dominion tournament have been held recently, and the pre parations arc understood to be well forward. Air F. L. Laureusou, a well-known skip of the Wellington Club, has ne moved to Christchurch, and will most likely link up with one of the city clubs. In most of the clubs, entries are now being received for the club competitions, and a start will be made with them very shortly. Some bowlers have not, however, put in an appearance on their greens so far this season. An improvement made at the Sydenham Club’s green during the off-season has been the widening of the ditch at the pavilion end. Instead of being only about ten inches in width, the ditch has been wiened to over two feet, and players will now have to step into the ditch before going on to the green. The object of the alteration is to save the green as much as possible at the end where it is most used. Onlookers who want to read the names on the boards will now have no excuse for standing cn the green, as they will be able to walk along the flitch. It. may bo expected that other green superintendents will want their clubs to follow the example of the Sydenham Club Bowlers very rarely die young,: .and it is getting quite proverbial that when a man retires from business he takes on a new lease of life if he plays from the nlonkev-glands. It is on record that an elderly gentleman retired from the- sea axul settled down in Taranaki. He said that as he was seventy-eight he thought it was quite time he should get married and join ft bowling club. A few years afterwards half the papers in the Dominion were announcing that the club in question had passed round the hat to pay for a silver cradle for him ! But not many bowlers can equal the record of Mr Gardiner. of the City Green, New castle. N.S.AY., a gentleman of ninety years ot age, -who has been playing for seventy years. -f)f course he started in the Old Country, as there were no clubs in Australia seventy years ago. The oldest was started in Melbourne in IST4, three years after the Auckland Club was founded. The Killara Club, in Sydney, lias received a “ raw recruit '* in the shape of a first-year player aged eighty-two. Never too late to learn. During the New Zealand tour in Australia a good deal was heard about the preference on the other side for composition bowls, on account of the climate being so severe on lignum vitae. It is therefore rather refreshing to know that this preference is not universal. The other day a New Zealand visitor came across a bowler in Sydney who was still playing with a pair of Taylor’s bowls which he hud used for twelve years. He bought them from a. player in Newcastle who had them for thirty years, and prior to that the latter’s father used them in Scotland for eight years. A life of fifty years is not ut all bad for wood. No wonder they call it lignum vitae. R. C. Kinvig, a prominent 'Wellington bowler, has lately settled down in Auckland. Ho is an able exponent of the game and a frequent competitor at tbe Dominion tournament. Having now retired from business, lie will l>e able to devote a lot of time to his favourite ’ jwetime. Mr W. P. Garner, of the Waitemata Club, has just returned from a business trir> to Britain and the United States, •luring which he had the opportunity to see some of the most famous bowling greens, including the site of Drake’s historic green on Plymouth Hoe, states an Auckland writer. In Glasgow tho favourite time for play ia in the evening, and it is quite a common thing for a match to begin about 8 o’clock and finish at 10. Oi jourse they have all the advantage of summer time, commonly known ;u----daylight saving, and it seems quite time that this excellent system was introduced here. Mr Garner gained tho impression that the game of bowls is rapidly becoming more popular at Home, and is now in much higher fav our than when tho New Zealand team visited England. At tho same tinm It was noticeable that even round London their greens ure generally inferioi to ours. Most of the clubs are rathei small, and their playing area ia usually limited to one green, but new jJubtS are springing up in oil directions.

while a large number of people are playing on grecna recently constructed in parks and other public propertyi STRAY SHOTS. A meeting of ladies was held in the Otago Club’s pavilion yesterday to talk over tho matter of forming a ladies’ section in connection with the club. Mr George Parkes will be remember'd by all who had the pleasure of meeting the New South Wales visitors last. January,* and Randwick have surely made an excellent choice in electing him as their president this year. He is a real white man. with a genial personality and a. cheery disposition which refuses to grow old. He has tho most kindly recollections of his visit to New Zealand, and cannot do enough for visiting Pakehas in an -uideavour to show his appreciation of tho hospitality that was showered upon the New South Wales team last summer. The secretary of the Randwick Club. Mr -Joe Con iter, is also very friendly disposed towards New Zealand visitors to Sydney, and they were always welcomed to tho green, and urged to come again. He has just been re-elected to the position he has already held in the club for twentyseven years. A remarkable feature of the ?Gvw South Wales Bowling Association is the long tenure of office enjoyed by. the presidents. ’Since 1880 there have been only seven. Mr Wall’s predecessor, Mr John Spence, held office for ten years, and this year he lias been elected patron, vioJ Sir W. Davidson, Governor of New South Wales, who recently died. When the team was over here last January, Mr Spence was the senior vice-president. His Excellency the Governor-General is to be invited to be present on the Wellington centre president’s gala efty in February. This gala is given in honour of veteran players of seventy years of age or over, and a similar day is a feature of the. season each year in Sydney. The play will not be in the nature of a competition, but will bo simply a game for the elderly players of all clubs. Every participant must lie a member of a club allied to the Wellington Centre. All tho Invercargill clubs will bo affected to a great extent by the change in the half-holiday from a Saturday to Wednesday, and insufficient players will be available on the Wednesday afternoon to allow of tho inter-club Fixtures being played on that day, writes “Measure” in tho “Southland Times.” In order to overcome this difficulty the fixtures committee has arranged for both tho inter-club and tho A and B grade four-rink matches to bo played in the evening. Four-rink games will be played on Tuesday evenings and inter-club games on Thursday evenings. Speaking at the opening of the Kelburn Bowling Club. Mr M. Routley (president) said that it was just twenty years ago since he first took up bowling, and looking back he could see that it was one of the best things ho ever did in his life. It- was a very healthy exercise and tended to the recuperation both of mind and body (Hear, hear.) The value of recreation and exercise, even from an industrial arid commercial point of view, was not sufficiently recognised. But he saw that one of the large firms in America, had decided to give an additional 100 dollars (£2O) a year to everyone of its employees who played golf, because the firm recognised that the game rested and refreshed the men. relieved their minds of worry, and made them better and more efficient workers. (Hear, hear.) Ho did not know whether the game of bowls would have the same results. Members : Every time. (Applause and laughter.) Mr Routley: There is no doubt that bowling is one of the very best antidoes for worry. (Applause). Bowling, added Air Routley, was one of the first 1 and best known of English. pastimes. The records showed that the first known bowline green was laid down in the time of Edward I. ; and that same green was still in use at the present time. The game was growing in popularity day by dav in New there were now just on 14.000 bowlers in tho Dominion. (Applause).

ADVICE TO EEGINNERS. Wi tli the start ot another season many men will be taking on the game* for the first time, remarks a Dunedin writer. They are liable to form wrong opinions. If they have any idea of the game at all, they will understand that, when selected (should they be so fortunatej for a rink game their position will bo as second player. From that time forward they are likely to regard No._ 2 as always a weak 'performer. No greater mistake could be made. While not going the length of some writers who claim that the second man lias tho most important place, l have always maintained that the position is onerous, and well worthy of a good player. For this opinion there is plenty of support?. An Australian writer has the following to say on the subject ; Anyone i R llrj t good enough for No. 2. What is the. value of a No. 2 in a rink? Invaluable, because any bowler who can play that position properly must -be a first-class drawer of the shot, must be able to play those difficult shots—the position shots—-and also be able to drive. That being so, I cannot see why so many turn up their noses at being placed No. 2. *The old idea of the second man being the weak one of the rink is dying out, and selection committees and captains are becoming more anxious to obtain special men to occupy that position. Every skip knows th.r extra strain put upon him when playing an ordinary No. 2. In learning tho game, strive to get in the lead and stay there for three seasons, then drop it and play No. 2 for two or three seasons. By that time, if there is any bowling in you, i- u will show itself, and you will become lit to occupy a third position in a rink, taking it for granted that you have, during your apprenticeship, boon carefully watching your captain's methods of directing and handling his men. A No. 3 i.s a No. 2, plus being a good director: therefore, to my mind, an ideal No. 2 i.s a No. 3 in important matches. A No. 3 may make a good skip. So you sec that, by .paying close attention to your work as No. 2, you are qualifying for a skipship. No! 2 ia such an important position that, should any bowler fool away his time in it, his chances to rise to any great height are remote. I have heard

played No. s.’* Those men I pity; their lose cannot be recovered, and they are incomplete. The bowler who lias risen from leader to No. 2, to No. 3, then to skip, js the man who is more likely to get the most out of his men ; for he who has played in all positions can enter sympathetically into the feelings of those who comprise his rink. Every season you will find that, mainly through the play of No. 2, matches have been won. 1 have some in my mind’s eye while writing. Cheer up. No. 2’s! You occupy a unique and important position, and good tortune attend you all during the coming