TRENTHAM--1912.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1380, 5 March 1912, Page 7

TRENTHAM--1912.

FIFTH DAY. CHAMPION MATCHES BEGUN. DIFFICULT WIND. THE EVENTS OF THE DAY. Auckland Match: Won by Rifleman S. Elliott, Akarana Rifle Club, Auckland. .Wellington Match: Won by Rifleman Taylor, Blenheim Rifle Club.

yesterday, the fifth day of the New Zealand liifle Championship Meeting at Trentham, was a vile day for the sliootingmen. Treuthain is at its worst in a southerly, and yesterday's southerly was one of the worst of its kind. Coming up over the low hills behind the targets, the wind worms and twists and screws down the gullies, strikes fearful tangents on spins and saddles, and blows across the range in various directions.

Long Ijeforo the aviator discovered, to his discomfiture, air-pits in tho atmosphere, (he rifleman discovered good and bad patches on tricky Ganges. The existence of these patches is not deified, but as. the competitors have no choice of position, these fortunate bells of comparative calm weather come to the shooting man as. a happy chance, lo be taken the fullest advantage of. Favoured with a good patch, the rifleman, once sure of the fact, can go ahead and finish with, at the most, two changes of elevation and deflection. But woe to the unfortunate who finds himself in ii .bad patch, where contesting, air-currents become involved in a swirling maeislroni, and put the shootist back ten years in his faith. So it was at Trentliam yesterday. A man with no reputation had a good chance of making one—if he.struck a-good patch —and the man whose past history made him a figure to be regarded with awe on the range had good reason to look to his laurels when he found himself in a Ijad patch.

The Shooting. In such execrable shooting weather, the results' were by no means imposing. There was a measure'of merit at the.top of the list, but a-very long tail. One , man, Elliott, of Akarana, wlio won the' Auckland Match., scored the possible at 800 yards, while another, Lieutenant M'lntosh, of' Whitohi, the runner-up,' scored the possible-at 500 yards. These two .will be awarded with ten-shilling pqssible.prizes, in addition to their match prizes of XT) and JM respectively. M'lntosh made rather "a poor start, making 43 at'.3oo yards, but his possible at 500 yards lifted him among (ho 93's, five points behind the" winner,' who followed his possible at 300 vards with an excellent score of 18 at 300 yards. Uuthie, of Christchiurch, made 49 at. 300' yards, but dropped to 42 at the longer range, retiring with ill. A good effort'was made by Sergeant Neodham.of I'almcrston North, who scored 4S at. SOD yards, but his ten shots at the longer range returned him only 43, a' total' of 91. N. F. Willoughby, of the Karori Club, made 4ft al 509 yards, but his previous score of 43 at the. first range placed him among the .01's in. the prfee aggregate. Anion? the 47\s at 500 yards wore "Chapman, of the Suburbs Club (39 at 300 vards). Mavhew. of Feilding'(39 .at'. 300 vards), Dewar. of Ohura (with 44. at 3ro'vari!sj,''Kvans. of the Suburbs (41 at 300 vards), and -Inglev, 'nf'.Greytoivii (41 at 300 yards). - Masetield. Rounds R.C., Lo'vr.day, of . Ohura, and .T. Anderson, 0i" Auckland, made 4" at the 800, yards, stage, but fell away .at the longer range. ' . ■ . The Auckland Match was disposed of in the forenoon, and after dinner firing in the Wellington Match, a ten-shot contest at 509 and 000 yards, commenced in rather better weather, although the wind was still very tricky.'.' Threo lucky niarksm-?n scored a possible of 50 points—Captain Merrieless, of Tauransa, Captain Potter, of Auckland, and Rifleman R. J. King, of Opaki. Close behind came the "fortyniners"—Rifleman' Take Whiteman (Upper Hntt),' Lieut. Butler (9th Regiment); Rifleman J. M'Lachlan (Petone), Rifleman W. Bunks (Kimbolton), and Rifleman G. Clark (Rtingifikei). From there the tail went down through'the 4S's, 47's. and so on. Coming back to the 000 yards stage, shooting was more difficult, and nobody pot beyond 49—in fact only one mail rrached 49, Take Whiteman, of the Upper Hutt .Club.'-. Rifleman Taylor (Blenheim), who won the match, with an aggregate score of 94,-counting out Captain Potter, made 4S at 500 yards, also did Sergeant Jlunro, of Murihiku..' .