BILLIARDS.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XVIII, Issue 1064, 28 July 1910, Page 10

BILLIARDS.

AN UP-TO-DATE BILLIARD SALOON.

. Mr- H. Quarterman’s new billiard parlour is situated in Norfolk Chambers, the handsome new buildings recently erected in,. Ridgway-street, Wanganui. It is a remarkably fine room, and . is. handsomely furnished. It is one of the finest billiard parlours in Australasia, so far as light, room and ventilation are concerned- There are five tables, all built of Tasmanian blackwood, by the well-known firm of Heir on and. Smith,, billiard table manufacturers, of Sydney and Brisbane. . The. ...centre table—what is termed the match table —is made to standard size with regard to the pockets and . baulk, and hence any records put up thereon would be recognised by the Billiard Association of Great Britain. The room is splendidly lighted; in fact, this is a great feature. Mr. Heiron, who came over from Sydney to superintend the erection of the tables, declared that the parlour was the finest he had seen in all his travels in Australia and the Dominion for light, ventilation and room. Since the parlour has been opened it has been largely patronised, and all players have expressed their delight at the excellence of the tables and the management, which is of the very best. When Fred. Lindrum, jun., was here in January last, he made a break of 287 on the match table at Norfolk Chambers in an exhibition game with Gray. Lindrum stated that he had never seen such a splendid billiard parlour in all his travels, it being almost perfect in every detail. There were larger rooms in Australia, but none so admirably lighted and furnished. The table was one of the best he had played on in his tour.

ROBERTS V- LINDRUM. THE SECOND GAME. The following particulars of ..the second match between Roberts and Lindrum, nowi in progress, we clip from the “ Referee”: — Contrary to expectations, Roberts conceded his opponent the same start as in Melbourne—3ooo points, notwithstanding: the youth’s giant surplus. Bonzoline balls were again used, and. appeared to suit the retired champion, for not only did he score 1500 to Lindrum’s 957 the first day, but decent breaks, such as 271, 142, and 139 were compiled from them. Lindrum’s display the first day was most disappointing to those who had seen him in the pit for the first time. No century break came from his cue, but he fully made amends on Saturday evening by the most skilfullyexecuted break —283- —that I have ever seen him string together. Mostly all of it was around the billiard spot, and included his whole gamut of strokesSo far Lindrum had discarded the red loser — a foolish move, as it is the backbone of the game. Roberts, too, played extremely well on Saturday. He went to the table with confidence and resolution, following up Lin drum’s 283 with a fast 271. THE PLAYThe Australian’s 343 bad on the first day was reduced to 11, when Roberts reached game, and he gave every promise of emulating his Melbourne deeds. On Monday afternoon the scoring was dead even- —636 each, and Landrum wound up with a lead of 114 on points, after a great session, in which he averaged 35.6 to Roberts’ 33.9- At night the veteran was in great tune, with major runs of 364 and 248, and the great average of 144.1, the session closing with Lindrum —who only scored 235 —390 points behind his quota. . On Tuesday it took Roberts 30 innings to score his points in a rather dull afternoon’s play, each cueist in-

dulging in a rather unusual amount of safety play for an exhibition game. Lindrum had the best of the bouts, scoring 813 to Roberts 749, the major portion of which was strung together while the visitor was compiling the last hundred. Breaks: Roberts, 64 (full), 121, 177, 64, 137 and 22 unfinished; Lindrum, 58, 128, 109, and 229. Averages: Roberts, 25; Lindrum, 27-3. In the evening Roberts only added ha’f-a-dozen to his unfinished break on resuming after tea, Lindrum responding with a double baulk after holing the “spot” ball. After some unproductive innings by both players, Lindrum put in 116, when he failed through over-reaching the stroke. A slow screw shot brought about Roberts’ downfall after 25, which let Lindrum in again with 125 when a “kiss” put him out. Roberts then had a turn, and by a sweet all-round break of 163 evoked much applause. Sixtythree by Lindrum was the next itemThe gale blowing outside affected the light considerably, causing the players to break down more than once when in a break. Exactly the same number (63) came from Roberts’ next innings. Fast scoring by Lindrum followed —the first hundred of 155 being put togethei’ in five minutes. Much cheering greeted many fine strokes in a 97 break by Roberts, and after some slow play, the youth strung 65 together and Roberts 53 in following sticks. Roberts got in again with a nice break of 67, in which he executed a couple of masse strokes in his own inimitable style. Lindrum was out of touch for some time, failing on several easy shots in succession. Roberts then reached his points, the scoring being— John Roberts (in play) ... 5256 F. Lindrum (rec- 3000) .... 7249

The long-drawn-out billiard season came to a conclusion in the Old Country with the easy victory of E. Diggle over Tom Reece in the only outstanding match. Diggle had given his opponent a start of 2000 points in 18,000 and beat him by 5140 in addition. Reece’s best effort was reserved for the last day, when, among other good breaks, he turned out a brilliant one of 431 points. « « « « A billiards tournament has beenconcluded at Methven. The contest was arranged as a local championship, of 500 up. There were eight competitors, and Dr. Golding and J. Stone were left in the final, which was played on Saturday, Stone defeating his opponent. The winner received a gold medal, and a silver matchbox for the highest break in the tournament (43), presented by Dr. Golding. » * « » A billiards tournament was completed at Hanmer Springs recently- The winner was H. Phillips, D. Roach being second, and James Dodds third. A special prize for the highest break, .was won by D. Roach.