BOWLS AND BOWLERS.

Waipa Post, Volume XXIV, Issue 1690, 24 November 1925, Page 5

BOWLS AND BOWLERS.

SOME OBSERVATIONS

■Contributed. In the fourteenth century Ediward 11. and Richard 11. prohibited the playing of bowls in England, as the people were so taken with the sport it was feared they would neglect the practice of archery, which was the main weapon of attack and defence of the English armies of the period. In 1541, under Act of Parliament, labourers, apprentices, and the proletariat were debarred the pleasure of howls, as the workers were neglecting their work for the sport, Tlence the dictum of New Zealand exponents: “If howls interfere with your business, give up business.”, 'Perhaps a few in our midst followed this adage with unsatisfactory results, hut the great majority combine business with recreation on the green. ' The bowls season this year will mark another tie in the relations between England and New Zealand. For the first time in history an English team will visit these shores, and will engage in test matches, beginning next month. Among the Englishmen are big financiers and business men of England, Scotland, and Wales, and the knowledge they will be able to take back to the Homeland of the vast potentialities of this young country will be worth tons of literature furnished by New Zealand’s Department of Tourist and Health Resorts.

'The bowling green is open to those even with slender purses. The only paraphernalia required is a set of bowls and the purchase of a pair of shoes. Subscriptions rauge from 30s to £3’ 3s yearly, and, considering the fact that the club’s premises are at the disposal of members at all hours, the sport is perhaps the cheapest obtainable. To some extent this is responsible for the popularity of the game in New Zealand, and in the Auckland .province in particular. There was a time when bowls was ridiculed as a game for the aged and infirm. AH this has changed of late years, and it is now found that men between '25 and 35 years form a big quota of players. Bowls has a fascination which has attracted judges of the supreme court, kings, counsel, politicians, borough councillors, and leaders of our commercial life to its fold. On the green the highest iii the land greets one of the proletariat as a brother sportsman, and those who endeavour to raise class dstinction are given short shrift. It is the pastime for the multitude; age mingles with youth, workmen with the magnates, and keen rivalry exists for the game’s sweet sake. On some greens may be found “ young ” bowler-s in the eighties who have been rolling bowls “ along the ground ” for over forty years. They will tell you the game’s not what it used to be with these new-fangled ideas of bowl testing. Notwithstanding all this, thev are the first to abide by the decisions of experts and have their bowls altered.

Many humorous incidents crop up in the course of play. Well I remember two old identities of eightiy-three and eighty years who had been at loggei-he-ads for weeks deciding the issue on the green. After a close struggle the “ youngster ” was defeated. Over a glass in the pavilion the members expressed their condolence at his defeat. “Well,” he retorted, “why shouldn’t he beat me? He’s older than I am, and more experienced.” Bowlers do not die of heart disease, they simply fade away from the continuous suspense of waiting for bowls to reach their objective. Their eyes fasten themselves on the biassed bowl as it meanders up the grassy sward at a snail’s pace. The suspense is dreadful. Will it reach the jack? As it draws near there is a sigh. Then vocal chords are given free vent. All is well—the shot has missed. Ah, here is another coining—and the same routine is gone through. It is claimed that bowlers die happy, ’but it must be a lingering death.