KING’S PRIZE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 59, 11 March 1937, Page 8

KING’S PRIZE

NIX BEATS MASEFIELD BRILLIANT SHOOTING FINALS AT TRENTHAM [ Per Tress Association. ] WELLINGTON, March 10. Finishing with a possible in the Ci final match for the King’s Prize, C. J. c Nix, of the Featherston Rifle Club, c won at Trentham to-day the Ballinger h Rifle, champion belt, gold medal and gold shield of the National Rifle Asso- t] ciation, £3O and the Rifle Champion f Cup, awarded for the highest indi- h vidua 1 score with the final ten rounds a at 900 yards. He received all the g( customary honours accorded to the King’s Prizeman. After the usual c trigger test he was cheered and hoist- f ed into the historic chair and carried shoulder high by his club-mates to the Y.M.C.A. hall, .vhere he was presented with his trophies by Mrs. F. Jones, wife of the Minister of De- ‘ fence, the Hon. F. Jones. The runner-up for the King's Prize was the over-night leader W. N. L Masefield (Blenheim), and H. A. L Cromie (Ashburton) finished third. Fourth place in the King’s was filled & by D. J. Guiney (Petone) after a h shoot-off with H. V. Croxton (Karori). s. After their final ten shots they each tl had an aggregate score of 510 out of h the possible 550. Tne shoot-off com- c prised one compulsory sighter and > five rounds, Guiney making 21 to s; Croxton’s 20. c The conditions for the final were I good. There was a dull, even light and a light breeze from the . left, n which was inclined to strengthen and “ lull but was relatively easy to follow, t The King’s fifty fired in two batches g of 25, the last 25 first and the first 25 a last. When they took their places at p the firing mounds Masefield had one v point lead over Nix with 473. They v fired on targets in the middle of the n range, and behind them were group- t ed a large crowd of spectators. a Shooting with superb consistency and v cool and collected despite the people about him, Nix had possibles with r his two sighting shots and went on to j, finish with a string of bulls-eyes. It was realised he was up against a tough proposition in having to con- jtend against so experienced a marks- Q man as Masefield. As shot for shot was fired Nix gradually improved his position. Masefield appeared unable r to keep in step with the wind changes and before Nix had fired his last ten t rounds it was a foregone conclusion that he would win his first King’s. * He finished with a grand aggregate c of 522 for his championship series of matches, involving five days of strenu- J ous shooting, Masefield being unable to do better than a 516. J The fact that there was nothing else 1 better than 48 shows the high stand- * ard of Nix’s marksmanship with his final ten rounds. Since taking part in his first meeting in 1908 Nix has attended every National meeting held at Trentham for the past 18 years. He has never been out of the final Fifty and in 1931 he was runner-up for the Rifle Champion Belt. Four years ago he finished third in the match for the 1 King’s Prize and on two occasions he has shot into fifth place. Nix, who is a sheep-farmer at Tauherenikau, has done all his shooting with the Featherston Rifle Club, of which he has been champion about fifteen times. In 1931 he won the Wairarapa 1 championship, North Island cham- 1 pionship and South Island champion- 1 ship, and he has won the Wellington 1 championship twice. Nix, who was a member of the New Zealand team ' | which went to Australia in 1929, is 49 • years of age. He does all his shoot- « ling with the old Martini-Henry, using ; ’a cut-down barrel for his short range ' matches and a full-length barrel at the long ranges. Nix has also competed with marked success in miniature rifle shooting. He has won tne ■ Wairarapa miniature championship 1 several times, tied for the New Zealand championship on one occasion, and has frequently been well up in the Wellington championship. Thirty-eight teams competed in the Champion Teams match, which was fired during the morning. The teams consisted ot four men, wno had to fire seven rounds at 300, 50 and 600 yards. When the marksmen left for the fir- ■ ing points drizzling rain was falling 1 and conditions on the mounds were far from pleasant for the first men down to shoot, in the day the weather improved, and with an almost complete absence of wind conditions were really perfect. Christchurch No. 2 team were the winners with a score of 405 out of the possible 420. Akarana filled second place with 404, and | Wanganui No. 2 w ere third with 403. The standard of shooting was much higher than last year, when the match was won by Wanganui No. 1 team with 384. Teams with that score this year were well out of the prize--5 money. Results were as follow: - King’s Prize match, Ballinger Rifle Belt, N.R.A. Gold Medal and Gold J Shield, Rifle Challenge Cup and £3O: C. J. Nix (Featherston) 50—522 N.R.A. Silver Star and Shield and £l5: < W. N. Masefield (Blenheim) 45—516 N.R.A. Silver Star and Badge and

Champion Teams Match (Teams of four men, seven rounds each at 300, 500 and 600 yards.) District Challenge Shield and four Miniature Cups and £l2 Christchurch No. 2 (D. F. Feir, W. Oakley, F. Hiscock, E. R. Truman) 405 £B— <D. R. Draffon, E. J. C. Beston, R. F. Wakefield, S. A. S. Elliott) 404 £6 Wanganui No. 2 (R. Shaw, J. Christian, P. C. Hamilton, J. Paterson) 403 £s— City No. 1 (C. J. M. Clark, A. W. Harris, S. C. Parkinson, F. Bowes) 402 14In vercargill City Guards (W. McChesney,’ J. Tansley, W. J. Murray, B. Broomfield) 400

Rifle Club Champion Team Match (All scores in Belt matches except the final ten shots.) Petone Rifle Club Champion Aggregate Shield and Four Miniature i Silver Cups— Opaki No. 1 (H. King, H. H. Mawley, H. K. Smith, D. S. McKenzie) 1808

£10— H. A. Cromie (Ashburton) 48—313 tl N.R.A. Silver Star and Bad ge an-1 £ £8--D. J. Guiney (Petone) 45- 510 J £5 Each— H. V. Croxton (Karori) .. F. J. Soler (Wanganui) ... 47—519 45— 5dS r £3 Each— R. H. Nichol 1 (Petone) 47—507 • E. M. Wrigley (Opaki) „ 47—506 a t £2 Each— J. R. Hunt (Suburbs) 47—.504 J. McKelvie (Karori) 45—503 d R. F. Wakefield (Akarana) 47—502 e D. S. McKenzie (Opaki) ... 47—502 - e £1 Each — F. H. Sharland (Nelson) 43—502 n F. T. White (Okawa) 45—502 e JI. K. Smith (Opaki) *4—502 V S H. Haraldsen (Napier) 43-502 c A H. O’Donnell Petone) . 42—502 y R. Congreve (Old Navals) 47-501 0 F. J. Jeune (Gisborne) 45—501 e H. Harris (Christchurch) .. J. I. King (Karori) 46—500 44—500 a .1. Tanslev (Invercargill) ..... 44—500 n L. H. Profitt (Napier) 43—500 e E. Wilton (Whangarei) 45—499 - H. L. Mason (Christchurch) 43—491) e S. Tumsden (Levin) 46—498 s C. A. Wohlers (Wangaratta, Australia) 46—498

J. C. Feest (Greytown) 44—498 J. Sim (Okawa) 44—498 H. King (Opaki) 40—498 P. B. Goldfinch Karori) 45—497 J. A. Munro (Mataura) 43—497 A. R. Symons (Okawa) 48—496 F. Bolton (Opaki) 46—496 H. C. Percy (Alfredton) 46—496 R. Ellis (Takapau) 43—496 L. Fellingham (Suburbs) ... 45—495 F. N. McVicar (Waipukurau) 45—495 M. Jones (Wanganui) 44—495 E. M. Castles (Waikopiro) 40—495 A. J. Brown (Hautere) 43—494 .1. E. Farley (Wanganui) 43—494 J. F. Fletcher (Dannevirke) 42—494 N. Perkins (Westport) 42—493 F. Hickenbotham (Christchurch 42—493 E. T. Haldane Waipukurau) 42—493 F. H. James (Napier) 43—492 W. Oakley (Christchurch) 44—492 D. F. Keir (Christchurch) .. 39—490 C. Whiteman (Old Navals) 37—489