BOWLING NOTES FROM THE GREENS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18959, 3 January 1930, Page 3

BOWLING NOTES FROM THE GREENS.

Apart from club tournaments, there are no bowling fixtures held in Christchurch during the Christmas and New Year holiday period. On several occasions attempts have been made by the Centre to inaugurate a rinks or pairs tournament, but the support has been so poor that the idea has had to be abandoned. Quite a number of our leading local players prefer to take part in tournaments in other centres, South Canterbury being a favourite with many. With those who desire to take part in an interclub tournament in Christchurch, the Linwood club’s annuial New Year fixture has become very popular in recent years. This year twenty rinks, representing eleven clubs, entered for the Linwood tournament, apd more entries could have been obtained if the club had a larger playing area. The Linwood club is to be commended for filling the breach so successfully, and several of the rinks which are to take part in the Dominion championships at Dunedin have had a good try-out at Linwood this week. Unfortunately, the weather broke badly on Wednesday afternoon, causing a postponement of play, but yesterday the conditions were very satisfactory. The centre pennant competition will not be resumed until Saturday, January 25, when the seventh round will be played, and the four-rink championship is being held in abeyance until Wednesday, January 29. This long break has been allowed in order that clubs with players absent at the Dominion tournament shall not be handicapped in having to make up teams for the centre competitions. The break also enables clubs to get their own competitions well advanced, thus avoiding a great rush in the last few days before entries for the champion of champions competitions close. In some of the clubs, the competitions are approaching finality, but in others the games are still dragging out slowly There is, however, plenty of time lef' in which to bring club competitions to finality. This year there will be a big influx of Wellington players to Christchurch for the three important fixtures. The match between Victoria (Wellington) and St Albans for the Oakey Silver Kitty will be played at St Albans on Friday next, and the “ Friendly Bowl ” match between the Wellington and i Christchurch clubs will be held on the Christchurch green on Saturday, Janu- | ary 11 These matches are purely club j fixtures arranged for the purpose of promoting the social side of the game of bowls, and they are very popular in the clubs concerned. Little importance is attached to the results of the

games, so long as the spirit of friendship prevails among the players both on and off the green. The Barnett Tiki match, a representative annual fixture between the Wellington and Christchurch centres, will also be played in Christchurch this year, the date fixed being Friday, January 10. A Wellington writer states that for this match enough entries were received to make up fourteen rinks, but, as seven is the limit which could be selected, the remainder will probably be accommodated in friendly games. The seven rinks which have been chosen should give a good account of themselves, but in any case all who go to Christchurch are sure of a great time. A wise resolution of the Dominion Tournament Committee is to call a meeting of umpires with a view to uniformity of rulings on different greens at tournament time; also that umpires shall inspect all bowls to see that they are properly stamped. Those of us who grumble at our rain fall might consider the other side of the situation, as stated in Sydney “Bowling Life”:—The Gooladong dam being dry, the local bowling club is hard put to it in its endeavour to keep the green “ green.” At present water Is being purchased and carted to the green, and distributed over the playing area by means of a hand pump and spray. In the past the committee has made an effort to strike water by means of boring adjacent to the green, but without success. However, it is having another try, and is optimistic regarding the chances. The last time the Dominion tournament was held in Dunedin, fifteen rinks entered from Wellington, consequently this year's entry of six rinks from this centre is much below the average number (writes “ No. 2 ” in the Wellington “Evening Post”). However, with all the tournaments taking place throughout the country round about the time of the Dominion gathering.it follows as a matter of course that the big fixture should suffer. Enougn warnings have been sounded on this point, and it is for the Dominion council to take such steps as it deems fit to protect the Dominion tournament from being further impaired. . At the coming tournament, the rinks will be played from start to finish without interruption, and this should be much more satisfactory than the practice of the past four years, although, of course, Dunedin players probably have other ideas on the subject. From the Wellington point of view, the interruption of the rinks to allow of two days of pairs to be played entails a risk of players becoming somewhat stale before the rinks are resumed. A special meeting of delegates to the Auckland Bowling Centre was call-

ed to consider the following motion, which was decisively defeated: “ That at the Dominion tournament in 1931 rinks only be played; that there be a full week of sectional play, the winners to go forward on the two-life principle; that in the South Island a champion singles and pairs tournament be plaj-ed and a similar tournament in the North Island, the winners to meet at the Dominion tournament.” Mr George Redmond, who is well known in the bowling world, returned recently after spending eight months in Brisbane and Sydney. He told a “ Dominion ” reporter that people who went to Sydney from New Zealand this year with the hope of enjoying sunshine and warm weather were disappointed, for, generally speaking, the weather had been very cold and unusually stormy. In Sydney Mr Redmond’s interest centred in the bowling community, and before leaving‘he and his brother were, given a farewell at the North Sydney greens. Mr Redmond conveys the news that a team of Melbourne women bowlers is to visit New Zealand next month, having been invited over by the ladies’ bowling clubs of Dunedin, which is about the only city in New Zealand where bowls are played by the fair sex. He mentioned also that Mr Melbourne Orchard, formerly of Christchurch, who has won championship honours in bowls in England, was making a stay in Australia, and was playing for the Marrickvilie club in Sydney. It was his intention to attend the annual Australian carnivar, to be held in Launceston (Tasmania) in February, and then come to New Zealand. Mr John Scott, who was president of the last team of Australian bowlers to visit New Zealand, suffered a serious illness during the past winter, but has quite recovered. He wished to be remembered to all his bowling friends in New Zealand, said Mr Redmond. Mr James Hartley, sescretary of the Amateur Bowling League, at Preston, England, at the opening ceremony of a new green at Ashton-on-Ribble, had something to say about the growth of the game in Great Britain: ‘ During the last decade in Great Britain, the game has gone ahead by leaps and bounds. There are now over two million organised bowlers in this country, more act-ual participants in the game than in anv other British sport This does not exclude either football or cricket, for, although you may get 'as many as 20.000 spectators at a football match, ther' > are only twenty-two players on the field. In the game of bowls, although almost all its votaries take an active part, I am pleased to observe that we in Preston have shared in the general progress that the game has made. We have now ten municipal greens, and more than twice that number of hotel and club greens In Man Chester there are seventy municipal greens, and some sixty-four in Glasgow, and in both places those numbers are far exceeded by private and club greens.”

RINK TOURNAMENT HELD AT LINWOOD.

Twenty rinks, representing: eleven clubs, took pai*t in the New Year rinks tournament of the Linwood Bowling: Club, which was concluded yesterdav. The tournament, which was inr au'gurated by the Linwood Club many years ago, has become a very popular fixture with Christchurch bowlers, and although additional playing area has been provided this year, several rinks which wanted to take part had to be disappointed. The following are yesterday s results: Third Round. Linwood—Buist, Munro, Sprosen, Kelleway IS. Sydenham—Hopkirk, Allan, Becconsall, T. Knox 13. St Albans—Mai pas, Evans, Smith, Angus IS, Linwood—T. Hllson, Free, Archer, F. Williams 11. Canterbxiry—Halliburton, Hill, Barnes, Haworth 15. Linwood—Bennett, Davy, Jones, Williamson 8. Sydenham—Ward, Freeman, T. Freeman, Watson 14, Christchurch—S. Dixon, S. Barnett, W. Brown, Dr Marks 12. Kaiapoi Working Men’s Club—Brown, W. Healey, J. Mealings, E. Monk 19, Sydenham—Armstrong, Jacobson, Maddren, Langley IT. Canterbury—Kennedy, Smith, Lawrie, Finnegan 17, United—Round, Walker, Dann, Stevens 15. Linwood—Smeaton, Paton, Belcher, Bendall 22, Barrington—Cook, Nisbet, Cooper, Truman 7. Linwood—Shaw, Brown, J eff coate, M’Kinley 15, Edge-ware—Burns, Morgan, West, Efford 11. Linwood—J. Taylor, Pullar, Holliday, Vincent 16, Shirley—lggo, Hibbard, Gosney, Brown 6. Shirley—Shearman, Kearney, Crumb, Ramsay 17, Opawa—L. Munns, J. Prisk, A. Hunnibell, A. Rollinson 16. Fourth Round. Angus 28, Monk 13. Haworth 37, Knox 13. Williams 12, Watson 10. Langley 15, Williamson 14. Dr Marks 15, Kelleway 13. Brown 20, M’Kinley 6. Rollinson 16, Vincent 12. Ramsay 16, Stevens 11. Finnegan 15, Bendall 13. Truman 17, Efford 15. Fifth Round. Ramsay 18, Bendall 13. Finnegan 16, Efford 13. Vincent 20. Stevens 11. Langley 15, Knox 12. Rollinson 16, M’Kinley 15. Dr Marks 15, Haworth 14. Angus 22, Williamson 13. Kelleway 29, Williams 3. Brown 16, Truman 15. Monk 19. Watson 15. Sixth Round. Rollinson 17. Brown 16. M’Kinlay 16, Finnegan 12. Truman 17, Vincent 15. Bendall 22. Stevens 17. Haworth 17. Watson 14. Kelleway 17, Efford 12. Dr Marks 18, Williams 9. Langley 14, Angus 12. Williamson 19. Ramsay 9. Knox 17, Monk 16. Final. Opawa—L. Munns, J. Prisk, A. Hunnibell. A. Rollinson (s.) 10, Christchurch— S. Dixon. S. Barnett, W. Brown, Dr Marks (s.)_S. __ SATURDAY S MATCHES. CANTERBURY CLUB. V Christchurch, at Canterbury—D. Brown, M’Ulroy. Sewell, Fox (s); Barnett, Nicholls, Spiers, Lewis (s); Kennedy. Cavell. Halliburton. Raphael (s). V. Christchurch, at Christchurch— Russell, Watson, Maynard, Harkiss (s); Barker, Grav, Yager, Marker (s): Robinson. J. C. Brown. F. Smith, Bartlett