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New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XII, Issue 710, 15 October 1903, Page 21

Quite a large number of ladies were present at the opening of the Mount Eden and Rocky Nooks Bowling Greens on Saturday. At the former ground I noticed the Misses Nicholson, of tennis fame. It is somewhat curious why ladies do not go in for bowling, for if ever there was a “game at which they could hold their own with the stronger sex this should be the verv one. The Carlton C lub, at Newmarket, admits lady members, and very well some of them play, and I am firmly convinced that if ladies once took up the good old game of bowls they would soon become enthusiasts. It is cer-

tainly a more suitable game for ladies to play' than hockey, and to my mmdis twice as attractive as croquet. Io tne vounger generation tennis is, of course, kn almost ideal pastime, but there are many who are not altogether suited fo so much running about. To These let me commend bowling, for it is a game which possesses a curious fascination of its own, and lam quite certain that the various clubs would be only too willing to give up a portion of their greens for the use of ladies. That they would rapidly become adepts is a certainty. * * * * The Empress of J apan is a keen horsewoman, and; strange to relate, a fairly proficient gymnast-. In the royal palace is a well-appointed gymnasium in which the Empress takes constant exercise. * * * * Over 62,000 women are engaged in cultivation of fruit in America. Some ot the most successful “orchardists of California are of the weaker sex. The members of the Wellington Ladies Hockey Club and their friends had a dance in the pavilion at Day’s Bay as a finale to their season. The girls have presented Mrs Rawson with a handsome silver photograph frame in recognition, of her kindness to them and interest in their games. ♦ ♦ * The dress reformer, or physical culturist. attired in her eccentric garbs has lived ' to see her dreams realised. Strangely enough, her tabooed theories he.ve been gradually adopted, but vanity and not commonsense won the day. A decade ago she received, at most, tol er_ ance from her pupils ; for girls were then much less in touch with the charm and value of athletics and the things bearing upon it than now. Her classes were far from interesting, and meant little, though the seed sown then took root. It needed something more thaiu standing in a row, and swinging the legs and arms, to make a girl enthuse over nature, when the grown-up people sne would imitate wer.e fearfully and wonderfully laced and padded. It took a smart bicycle, golf, or walking suit, oil a healthy, 'good-looking woman to show how comfort, neatness and style might be combined ; and to make the least natural of us look ridiculous. Ri gjt here comes our obligation to the athletic woman. One could not golf or feniee in a laced waist.