BOWLING NOTES

Evening Star, Issue 22459, 2 October 1936, Page 4

BOWLING NOTES

[By Draw.]

Club secretaries, or those in charge of the social activities of their clubs, are invited to send along notices in reference to any club events. Inquiries relating to the rules of the game will be welcomed. Correspondence addressed to “ Draw ” must reach this office not later than noon on Tuesday each week. Questions and Answers. “ Forty.”—Your note re the system of play as suggested by Mr Melville to hand. The writer agrees with you that there are a great many objections to it, but as the matter of Saturday system of play is already arranged and decided on for this season it will be just as well to leave the matter over in the meantime. The bowl mentioned by you is of good quality and a splendid model. You would not go wrong with it. , “ Local.” —Sorry, not suitable for this Column. ' Another. Season Commences. To-morrow some of the clubs in the Dunedin Centre open their greens for the 1936-37 season. At the time of writing • invitations have reached me from the Logan Park and Kaituna Clubs, and to both of them “ Draw ” extends his very best wishes for a successful opening and a season full of pleasure for all their members. If the greens in Dunedin continue to improve and hold the improvement, then the bowlers of this district should have very Ititle cause for complaint in so far as the playing areas are concerned! It is many years since we had the number of greens in such fine condition at this time of the year as they are showing at present. Anderson’s Bay, St. Kilda, St. Clair, and , Caledonian, in the southern area, are in very fine condition. All the hill greens are also in fine heart. Leith has all the appearance of great improvement. ■ Valley should be in good fettle by the time the matches start, while the Dunedin Club’s main green is showing wonderful improvement as compared with its condition some sis weeks ago, and hopes are held out that tilings will be more than satisfactory by opening day.. Members of all greens should remember that it takes a lot of hard work and an outlay of much money to get a bowling green in good order, and it is up to them to seo that they treat any green they may playon _ with the greatest respect. It is quite an easy matter to destroy parts of the playing areas. Often this is done by sheer carelessness, and the sin of carelessness on a green is almost past forgiveness. “ Draw ” makes au appeal to all bowlers to try and do nothing that will in any way damage the playing surfaces. By doing so they will assist greatly in extending the life of the greens, and will certainly make the playing more enjoyable to one and all. ‘i Draw ” will esteem it a favour if secretaries _or other responsible club members will forward him any matters of interest. Each club likes to knowsomething about the others, and this column is willing to help in spreading the news. Just see what you can do in the matter. Correspondence should reach the ‘ Star ’ Office by noon on Tuesdays. Caversham Winter Club. The final ,euchx - e, night, of, the season was held last Saturday, the major prizes being won by Mrs Scales and Mr IV. G. Cole, and the minor ones by Mrs L. J. Ballard and Mr C. M'Caskill. An excellent programme of songs was given by Miss T. Paine and Messrs A. Romeril, Cole, and M‘Caskill. The final bridge night will be held to-morrow, thus closing a very successful winter session. Official Club Openings. October 3.'—Logan Park (president, Mr R. A. Crawford; secretary, Mr A. A. M'Lennan), Kaituna (president, Mr W. F. Forrester: secretary, Mr A.: M‘Naught on). October 10.—Kaikorai (president, Mr William 0. Clark; secretary, Mr J. M‘Gregor), Anderson’s Bay (president, Mr Jas. M'lntosh; secretary, ■M.’ Jas. Mooney). October 17. —Dunedin, Leith, St. Clair, Caversham (president, Mr L. J. Ballard; secretary, Mr E. D. Smyth). Notes. To-morrow evening .a special meeting of the Dunedin Centre will be held to; complete the report of the Draw Committee in reference to all the centre competitions. The secretary (Mr Hanning) has had a rough pull of all fixtures made and sent out to each member of the executive, so by the time of the meeting all delegates should know of any changes that may improve matters. The Portobello green (private) may be ready, for play in the early new year, and no doubt will become a popular meeting place for bowlers, particularly about holiday time. ‘‘ Draw ” is in receipt of an invitation to the jubilee opening day of the Wellington Club on October 10. Mr Harry Mayer is the president and Mr Chas. Ingram the secretary. The iormer is well known as one of our leading bowling legislators, and the latter as a former New Zealand singles champion. A suggestion was made to the writer a few days ago by a well-known local player that may be of interest to most bowlers who take part or would like to take part in the New Zealand championships. Our friend is of the opinion that each club should be cauvassed early in the season and the names ot players willing to make the trip secured. By this means many who at present are “ frozen ” out may get a chance of a game in a rink. It must be remembered that “ some ” ot our bowlers are bashful and do not like pushing in on others, so the suggestion may be useful.

The early start proposed this season for the New Zealand championships in Wellington (January 4) will debar some of the southern players from taking part. However, the dates arranged may suit others. ' The new working hours and the introduction of the 40-hour week should

give a fillip to membership) of bowling clubs. To those who have a few spare hours and are past tlie stage ot doing a hundred in evens There is no better thing offering than a bowling duo. Kaikorai Club. If appearances count then the dub’s prospects of a high-class green are Bright. The earlier dosing, the mild winter, and the attention paid to the playing surface have been beneficial, and . players should have nothing of which to complain. For some months past a series of games of billiards and cards have been played between the Fire Brigade (RosJyn) and the Kaikorai Bowling Club. The latter is now the holder of a handsome trophy, presented on behalf of White Horse Distillers Co. Ltd. The final progressive euchre evening for the season of the Kaikorai Club was held on Saturday night. After presenting the winners, Mesdames M‘Connell and Clark and Messrs Jackson and Cubitt, with their prizes, the president (Mr W. 0. Clark) returned thanks for the splendid support received. The result would be a welcome addition to the club’s funds. He eulogised the work of the ladies, to whoso untiring efforts the satisfactory result was largely due. Empire and Other Games. “ Trundler,” the bowls writer in the Auckland ‘ Star,’ and perhaps the best in this particular line, recently wrote as follows:

“ Every bowler in Auckland will surely appreciate and echo the words of the mayor, in welcoming the Australian Rugby team at the civic reception which he tendered them, when he particularly stressed the value of these visits in engendering closer relations between the Dominion and the Commonwealth, for in no part of New Zealand have bowlers taken a more practical interest in promoting this friendship than in Auckland. In recent years the conviction his bedh steadily growing that there is more truth than was originally intended when a jocular speaker coined the suggestion that if New Zealand and Australia do not hang together they will hang separately. “ Consequently one does not need to apologise for giving more attention to transtasman bowling at present than at any time in our short history, especially when it introduces wider and more interesting aspects of the game than the commonplace experiences of visiting a green for a match or a tournament, however exciting that may appear at the time. The schemes of particular importance just now are the ■participation of all parts of the British Empire in the forthcoming Empire Games, to be held in Sydney, and the adoption of a uniform code of laws of the game throughout the world. Fortunately the bowlers oh the other side of the Tasman are officially just as keen on both projects as wo are here, and support has recently come from quite unexpected quarters, although it is only natural that opinions differ widely on how to bring this about. “ Probably the bes.t contribution that New Zealand bowlers could make towards the ideal presented by the Mayor of Auckland to the footballers would be of a threefold nature, first, to make a success of our part in the Empire Games in Sydney ; second, to seize the opportunity of the presence of British bowlers to take further steps towards uniform laws of the game, thereby eventually ending the absurdity of 1 all the rest of the world being out of step except our wee little Willie’—i.e., Australia and New Zealand; and, thirdly, sot the wheels in motion to get ■bowling included in the next Olympics. “ The first of these seems to bo already assured, in spite of the attitude of despair adopted by the New Zealand Bowling Council. The prospects of the second were never better, for all the thre©_codes are virtually in the melting pot, if Australia can be persuaded to hold up the application of the recent revision for one more year, and then blend it with. British and New Zealand ideas, the latter to be brought to a head by next March. As for the third, the initiative might just as well come from the smallest of the four dominions as from elsewhere, for experience shows that sports are not like a war, and that a little country gets just as good n hearing as a big one, provided that its suggestions are sound.”