BILLIARDS.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, 16 April 1914, Page 33

BILLIARDS.

In the match 18,000 up between Inman and Stevenson, level, for £lOO aside, the champiop administered a crushing defeat. Stevenson had the better of tile exchanges in the early part of the game, and his admirers thought he was sure to win. However, Inman was brilliant as well as consistent, a,nd completely outplayed his opponent. Inman has come on a lot in the last five years, and now that he has defeated Stevenson in a level game is rightly the champion of England.

G'eorge Gray has again defeated Claude Faulkiner in a match of 8000 up. Falkiner received 2500 start and went under by 389 points.

Reece will arrive in Melbourne on May 11 and will play his first game with Lindrum in that city. Three weeks later the pair open in Sydney.. Their bout is a three-game one, and the series of games are sure to be interesting right up to the finish.

John Roberts, on behalf of Tommy Newman, has challenged Inman to a match for £250 aside, 18,000 up, Newman to receive 2000 start. Inman has not yet replied to the challenge, but it is almost certain he will accept the de'fi, as great and all a player as Newman has shown himself, the time has not' yet come that he can defeat a matured player like Inman with such a small handicap.

Albert Williams will shortly be back in Sydney from the East. Williams is anxious to play a match with Lindrum previous to the latter meeting Reece, and a meeting between the pair at all-round billiards should be worth watching. Possibly Williams, who is now an Australian resident, will challenge Lindrum for the championship of Australasia, and with the red ball loser cut out 'Williams would a good winning chance.

The annual report of the Victorian Amateur Billiard Association discloses a healthy state of affairs. There are 100 paid up members in the Association, whose turnover for the year exceeded £2OO. Mr. Barlow, the secretary, and his fellow members deserve every success, as every effort is put forth to stimulate amateur billiards.

It is stated that John Roberts has written Mr. Fred Lindrum, sen., offering an engagement for his son Walter for a term of from five to seven years

on similar conditions to those that were outlined in the agreement with George Gray. The offer is under consideration, and for the future success of the lad the parents would be wise to accept the offer. To be under the experienced care of John Roberts until Walter was 21 years, with the frequent opportunity of match play and tuition which he would receive in England, would assuredly bring young Lindrum along more surely and quickly than if the boy remained in Australia, where the opportunities of meeting players as good as himself are so few. John . Mannock made a similar offer to young Fred Lindrum when the Australian champion was about 16 years old. The proposition, unluckily for Lindrum, was declined. With the natural aptitude possessed by Fred, it is a. certainty that, under the guidance of Mannock, he would have been found battling for championship honours with an excellent chance of winning. John Roberts is the greatest force in the billiard world to-day, and should his offer be accepted bj r Mr. Lindrum a good future and plenty of patronage is assured for his gifted son Walter.

Roberts, like the astute good judge he is, believes that, while one knows what the man is, no one can tell to what heights the boy will reach. That is why he wanted George Gray, and, failing him, made such a success of Tommy Newman. Walter Lindrum at 16 is equally as good a billiardist as Gray or Newman were at his age. John Roberts is anxious to have a protege who will still keep the name of his teacher before the world after the time arrives for the grand old man to cross the great divide.

Fred Weiss has changed his plans and has gone back to Queensland instead of coming to the Dominion. In a farewell game with Mr. Lambert, the Glebe champion, at Foley’s room, George Street, Sydney, the veteran showed there is plenty of good billiards yet in his make up. Breaks of 157, 95 and 114 unfinished helped to put the Glebe champion to bye-bye.

As showing the quality of Newman, here are some interesting facts. Playing in the Burroughs and Watts’ tournament against Stevenson, in their heat of 9000 up, Newman won by 3623, actually scoring 1623 more points than the ex-champion. Newman made breaks of 610, 473, 398, 376, 321 and 309.

The London Music Hall championship was again won by Sam Mays,

who defeated “Will No” by 650 to 498. A well-hit-up 40 was best break.

Willie Hoppe, in defeating George Sutton, retains the championship of America. The game is quite different to billiards as we understand it, and besides the baulk line restrictions the championship event is 500 up, and is decided in one session. No less than 1500 patrons paid two dollars each to witness the event, and the victory of Hoppe was enthusiastically received.

In July Inman goes to America to take on Hoppe at Anglo-American billiards, and as both have conclusively proved their right to represent their countries the international flavour of the games should create much interest wherever billiards are played, even though Inman may be playing a game which he knows little about and apparently is so outclassed at the outset that prominent English writers declare the three games arranged to be a satire on the respective billiard merits of either player in their own special games, with Inman having much the worst of the deal.

The Billiards Control Club at Home has let it be known that it has under consideration the advisability of equalising the restrictions as to cannons and hazards (says an English writer). The club committee is not acting hastily. It has intimated that its decision will not come into force until next season, but since it has announced its determination to alter the present conditions just on the eve of the championship contests, in which Gray will take part, it can hardly be doubted that the club has feared the possibility of the Australian beating all-comers. The club will not interfere this year and impose a harsh handicap upon Gray, but it will not let him beat the chosen of England bv his hazard game in future years. Of course, if Gray does not win the championshin, the club may change its mind as to the necessity of checking the red ball game. As it is, there are many lovers of the game who are energetically protesting against limiting Gray’s consecutive losers. This same school of enthusiasts would not compel Reece to stop at 25 ball to ball cannons. But I am afraid that there are far more people interested in -billiards who' consider that the game will be improved if a standard of “all-round” excellence is established. and though protest may be made, the B.C.C. will be able to carry out its intention with a certa’ntv of good support from the snorting public.