STILL GOING STRONG

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19842, 17 May 1927, Page 11

STILL GOING STRONG

A VETERAN RIFLEMAN ! SHOOTING AND AQUATICS A MERITORIOUS PERFORMANCE At tho invitation of the Rata Rifle Club, Mr George Cummins, of Marton, paid a visit tu Rata on and look part in a rifle shooting competition with the members of mat club, surprising the opposition with registering 45 at 500 yards and 43 at 600 yards, total 88, the highest score of the i day, under conditions not at all conducive to good shooting, as the weather [was misty with a tricky light. The next best scores were C. H. Gower, 46, 40, total 86 t and W. Innes 46, 40 total 86. Considering that Mr George Cummins is in his /4th year, and has not haiuiiled a rifle since 1914, tho performance is all the more meritorious. Mr Cummins is well known in Wanganui, for in 1881 he was a member of the Wanganui Rifle Volunteers, which at that time was considered to be one of the foremost volunteer corps in tho Dominion. In that year, the Wanganui Rifles sent a team to Nelson and won the rifle companies teams trophy, tho team comprising ColourSergt. Hughes, Lance-Corporals Kerning ton and blutsford, Volunteer W. Foster and Corporal J. Armstrong. On their return to Wanganui, they were challenged by a home team comprising Sergt. G. Ross, Corpt. G. Cummins, Sergt. C. H. Aamodt, Volunteers W. Churton and W. Armtsrong, who scored 447 against the Nelson’s team’s score of 418.

In referring to this match, the Wanganui “Chronicle” of March 18, 1881, stated that ‘ ‘ the match served to show that the victory of the Wanganui five in Nelson was not an accidental circumstance, but that the Wanganui Rifles contains a larger number of first class marksmen than any other corps in the colony.” Mr Cummins is the possessor of several trophies won at the Wanganui Rifles and Marton Rifles competitions, notably, the aggregate cup at the Wanganui Rifle Association meeting in 1881, with an aggregate score of 200, and considering that there were only 62 shots fired, this gives an average well above centres. In the All-comers Match, 200 and 400 yards, Mr Cummins topped the score with 50 —500 yards 36, 200 and 500 yands 50. On this occasion, Mr Cummins won the late Mr Freeman R. Jackson’s trophy for the best six competitions with a score of 279.

At the Marton Rifle dub’s shoot about 20 years ago> Mr Cummins also won the late Mr S. Gibbon’s silver cup for service conditions from scratch.

In 1883, Mr Cummins left for Australia and, at the Queensland Scottish Rifle Club’s meeting, topped the score in the senior class, scoring 82 at 300, 500 and 600 yards, and won a £lO 10s silver challenge cup, following this performance with winning the “A Company’s club match (Queensland Scottish Volunteers), with a total of 82 at 300, 500 and 600 yards. He also won the first prize for the two best scores in the quarterly matches with 82 and 78, a total of 160 points. After perusing a series of wins by Mr G. Cummins in Wanganui, Marton, and Queensland, one is not in tho least surprised to read that this old veteran shot can still put it over some of our best shots of to-day. As an oarsman, Mr Cummins record is quite a unique one. He was one of the founders of the Union Boat Club in Wanganui, and took part in several Wanganui regattas, and was a member of that boat’s crew in 1881 in an inrigger race, being runner-up to. Manawatu, the Wanganui crew being T. Bush (stroke), S. James, G. Cummins, O. Spurdie, amds Ferry (cox). He also took part in the race for the cups presented by Messrs Kohn Bros, to the Union Boat dub, when they were awarded the winners of the cups through a foul by Clansey’s crew. Bates had a lead of about 12 feet when the foul took place and, getting clear first, rowed past the post and tho cups were awarded to Bates, Hackett, O’Donnell an. 4 G. Cummins. Mr Cummins took part in a number of races both in Australia and in the Dominion, and whilst a resident of Wellington for two years ho took such a keen interest in the resuscitation of rowing in Wellington that when he left he was presented with a handsome illuminated address.

As a racing boat builder, Mr Cummins also gained fame. In referring to a “batswing’’ fouroared racing boat which he built for the Wanganui Rowing Club, the “Chronicle” of January 20, 1880. stat<ii that “the boat was built of best cedar, beautifully proportioned, her lines being all that the best judges of the requirements of such a piece of workmanship could desire, whilst the finish of the boat was really superb. We (Chronicle) have seen some of the very best efforts in the same line from the most celebrated boat builders in England and Australia and, neither by Salter, Greenlaw, nor Edwards, have we seen anything to surpass Mr Cummin’s chef-d’ouvro.” A coxswainless outrigger four, with patent swivel rowlocks, was also built to the order of the Wanganui Rowing Club in which the workmanship was excellent thiwughout and experts considered the model to be superior to that of any of the imported