BOWLING.

Waikato Times, Volume 107, Issue 17982, 29 March 1930, Page 9 (Supplement)

BOWLING.

BAY OF PLENTY TOUR. GLORIOUS WEATHER EXPERIENCED WARM WELCOME EVERYWHERE. (By “Toucher.") A party of South Auckland howlers, to the number of 26 players and eight ladies, left on the morning of Sunday, March 16 for a tour amongst the .Bay of Plenty bowling clubs. The weather as the tourists took the road was fine, and hopes ran high that similar conditions - might prevail throughout the trip. One fancies, however, that even the most sanguine hardly expected such delightful weather as that which prevailed during the whole progress of the tour. It was glorious, and not a spot of rain fell any day, though there was one very slight shower one night the partispent at Whakatane. Bright sunshine and calm was the experience everywhere, and though undeniably hot there appeared something about the atmosphere of the Bay towns visited which rendered the heat stimulating - rather than enervatingGood weather is a prime essential towards the success of any bowling tour,' but that experienced by the fortunate tourists of 1930 was more than good—it was, in point of fact, perfect^ The Freedom of Their Cities. ’ And what sort of a welcome did the visitors get? Well, I ask you! (to quote the vernacular). Everything, everywhere, was, so to speak, thrown wide open to them. In every town where a night was spent there xvas an open invitation to all bowlers who jeared to to stroll into the Club (and incidentally it may be mentioned that the members did you most remarkably .well when you got there). The lady members of the party, also, were not overlooked, and wives and friends of the local bowlers spared no effort to ensure " that the visiting ladies passed pleasant days and evenings. At Whakatane, where hotel accommodation at that particular time could not be got for everybody, local residents stepped into the breach, and put up several of the visiting bowlers and their wives in their own homes. They Heard the Call. And how the clubs did rally round fto see that all the touring bowlers got ’ a game 1 As, for instance, at Te Puke, where five rinks were got together in the morning to play against the South Aucklanders. To do this meant that the whole Te Puke Club .membership, with the exception of three or four, was present on the green—and for a morning; game at that. Again at Katikati six rinks turned out, and a right merry time was spent. The green there has only been down for a year or so, and the bowls at times performed some queer antics. But the spirit of jollity and good fellowship permeated the whole gathering, and if anyone present spent a dull (or dry) moment it was his or her own fault. As a matter of .fact,' one doesn’t believe that anyone did. Taneatua also put in six rinks,, land put on an afternoon tea “spread” (that one might go a very long way to ' see excelled. But the wants of the inner man were so well looked after everywhere that a particularly robust tourist (whose bulk should render him anything but a weak vessel, so far as food is concerned), remarked to the writer on one occasion: “My, hat- I seem to have done nothing but eat ever since we got to the Bay.”

A Happy Band. A singularly pleasant feature of the expedition was the entire lack of friction or unpleasantness 'of any sort between members of the party. “Toucher” did not hear a single “grouse” from anybody, and couldn’t And anyone else wh-o had heard one either. Car mishaps, likewise, were confined to a puncture or two, and the temporary stalling of one in midstream in a small creek which had to be forded on one stage of the homeward journey. This was soon remedied, however, with the assistance of the übiquitous fencing wire as a tow-rope. Also some luggage came adrift, and, though one bag was picked up by , a following car, Walter Maingay lost another, which must have fallen over a bank or somewhere out of sight from the road. Some r thing in the nature of a marine tragedy befell Charlie Martin, who dived into the briny with his glasses on, and now has a standing advertisement in the Mayor Island Megaphone asking for their return if a swordfish is wearing them when caught. But, joking apart, there was a remarkable scarcity of the unpleasant little accidents and incidents, which may so easily mar harmony on such a tour, and one ventures to believe that no one who took part in the trip under review will ever look back to it with anything but the most happy recollections. Space Forbids. One could write at length of the 'beauties of the Mamaku bush and !Hongi’s ; track, to say nothing of Lakes Rotoiti and Rotoma; of the villainous smell of Tikiteri; and of the horrified exclamation of a farmer member of the party when some particularly densely infested ragwort area was passed through. One might tell of how Dick Pilkington met and defeated his former lieutenant, J. Mclntyre at Whakatane (where Mac now bowls), and demonstrated to him that “ hack number ” could not yet be written of tuchard. One might name dozens of good fellow r s encounterd on the trip, and tell of many pleasant hours passed in their company. But, even if one could do justice to the subject, that man of'iron, the printer would not allow it space, allow it—space forbids he would declare. But, as one of the party, and as expressing the unanimous opinion of that party, “Toucher” would like to say to the bowlers of the Bay of Plenty: “You did us proud over your way, boys; what about coming over our way, and we will try and do as we were done by. And for the love of Mike bring some of that glorious Bay weather with you.” Records and Results. The records of those who skipped rinks during the tour were as under In regard to games won, lost or drawn respectively:— Maingay, 7 wins, 2 losses; Going, 7 wins, 3 losses; Pilkington, 6 wins, 2 losses, 1 draw; Clothier, 4 wins, G losses, i draw; Finch, 3 wins, 1 loss; North. 3 wins, 6 lc-s-sea; Mason. 2 wins j

no losses; Clarke, 1 win, no losses; Surrey, 1 win, 2 losses; Andrew's, 1 win, 4 losses; Bliss, one draw'; Rowe, 1 win, no losses; Kriscovich (substitute), 1 win; Richmond (pair), 1 loss. The points scored by and against the rinks captained by the above-men-tioned were as under: —Pillcington. 218—150; North, 165—183; Clothier, 210 —223; Going, 241—160; Andrews, 82 —117; Maingay, 196 —462; Mason, 45 —33; Finch, 104 —67; ltowe, 26—12; .Surrey, 51—66; Clarke, 26—15; Bliss, 12—12; Kriscovick, 21—13; Richmond, 15 —-19. In all eleven matches were played, all of 6 rinks except at Te Puke, w’here five rinks (practically the whole club membership) turned out, and seven at Te Aroha against the Goldfields’ Association. Here Kriscovich and Buchan, of the local club supported the two tourists left over against a team from Waihi. The travellers lost to Opotiki, the Combined Bay Clubs, Te Puke and Tauranga, but w’on all the others on the aggregates. Details, with the South Auckland figures quoted first in each case, follow: — South Auckland v. Opotiki Citizens, 139—102; v. Opotiki, 116- —118; v. Taneatua, 125—123; v. Whakatane, 124—114; v. Combined Bay Clubs, 101—113; v. Te Puke, 94—115;-v. Tauranga. 105 —130; v. Tauranga South, 179—76; v. Katikati, 149 —83; v. Waihi, 143 —129; v. Goldfields’ Association, 149—129. Total points for, 1424 ; against, 1232.