King's Prizeman

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 47, 11 March 1937, Page 9

King's Prizeman

-Press Association.)

C. J. NIX'S HONOUR Superb Consistency Beats Masefield CROMIE IN THIRD FLACE

(By Telegraph-

•W.ELiLIKGTOIs, Last Night. Pinishing with a possible ln the final match for the King's Prize C. J. Nix, of the Featherston Rifle Club, Von at i Trentham to-day the Ballinger rifle 'champion belt, gold medal and shilhi of j'the National Rifle Association, £30 and jthe rifle champion cup awarded for the ihighest individual score with the flnal Iten rounds at 90Q yards. He xeceived ;all the customary honours accorded to the King's Prizeman after the usoai ,'trigger test. . He was cheered, hoisted into the historic cbair and carried shoulder-high. by his club-mates to the . Y.M.C.A. hall where he was presented with. his trophies by Mrs. F. Jones, wife of the Minister of Defence (Hon. F. Jones). The runner-up for the King's Prize was the over-night leader, Captain W. N. Masefield" (Blenheim) and H. A. Cromie (Ashburton) finished third. The fourth place in the King's was filled by D. J. Guiney (Petone) after a shoot-ofE with H. • Y. Croxton (Karori). After their final ten shots they each had an aggregate score of 510 out'of' a possible -550. The shoot-off comprised one compulsory sighte'r and five rounds, Guiney making 21 to Croxton 's 20. ; The conditions for the final were good. Thore was a duil even Hght and a light . ibreeze from the left. which was inclined to strengthen and lull but was :relatively easy to follow. The King's' ,fifty ilred in two batches of 25, the last? ■25 first and the first 25 ldst. • When thev: itook their places at the firing mounds' ! Masefield had a one-point lead over Nix Iwith 473. They fired on targets in the, ; imiddle of the range and behind them- 1 iwere grouped a large crowd of specta-, i !tors. '• Shooting with superb consistency and cool and collected despite people about; 'him, Nix had possibles . with his two sighting shots and went on to flnishj .with a string of bulls-eyes. It wasi !realised that he was up against a:' •'tough opposition in having to contend; ■ against so experienced a marksman as; | Masefield. As shot for shot was fired' iNix gradually improved his position. 'Masefield appeared unabfe to keep in 'step with the wind changes and before 'Nix had fired his last ten rounds it was a foregone conclusion that he would win his first King's. He finished with a grand aggregate of 522 for his championship scries of matches involving five days of strenuous shooting, Masefield being unable to do better than 516. The fact that there was nothing else be'tter than 48 shows the high standard of Nix's marksmanship with his final ten rounds. Since taking part in his first meeting in 1908 Nix has attended every national meeting held at Trentham for the past 18 years. He has never been out. of the final fifty and in 1931 he was runner-up for the rifle ( •champion bolt. Four years ago he finished third in the match for the King's Prize and on two occasions he "has shot into fifth place. Nix, who is a sheep farmer at Tauherenikau, has done ali his shooting with the Featherston Rifle Club of which he has been champion about 15 times. In 1931 he won the Wairarapa championship, the North Island championship and the South Island championship, and he has won the Wellington championship twice. Nix, who was a inember of the New Zealand team which went to Australia in 1929, is 49 years of age. He does ali his shooting with an old Martini-Henry, using a cut down barrel for his short range matches and a full length barrel at the long range3. He has also competed with marked success in miniature rifle shooting. He ha3 won the Wairarapa miniature championship several times, tied for the New Zealand championship on one occasion and has frequently been well up in the Wellington championBhip. Thirty-eight teams competed in the champion teams match which was fired during the morning. The teams consisted of four men who had to fire seven rounds at 300, 500 and 600 yards. When the marksmen left for the firing points a drizzling rain was falling and the conditions on the mounds were far from pleasant for the first men down to shoot. Later in the day the weather improved and with an almost complete absence of wind the conditions were really perfect. Christchurch No. 2 team - were the winners with a score of 405 out of a possible 420. Akarana filled second place with 404 and Wanganui No. 2 were third with 403. The standard of shooting was much higher than last year when the match was won by Wanganui No. 1 team with 384. Teams • with that score this year were well out jof the prize money. , Results: — • ; King's Prize Match. Ballinger Rifle Belt, N.R.A. Gold Medal and Gold Shiold, Rifle Challenge . Cup and £30: C. J. Nix (Featherston) 50—522. N.R.A. Silver Star and Shield and £15: ■ W, N. Masefield (Blenheim) 43—516. N.R.A. Silver Star and Badge and £10: H, A, Cromie (Ashburton) 48—513. N.R.A. Silver Star and Badge and • £8: 1). J. Guiney (Petone) 45 — 510. £5 each: H. V. Croxton (Karori) 47 — 510, F. J. Soler (Wanganui) 45—508. £3 each: R. H. Nicholl (Petone) 48 — 507, E. U, Wrigley (Opaki) 47—503. £2 each: H. B. Hunt (Suburbs) 47—504, J. McKelvie (Karori) 45—503, li. F. Wakefield (Akarana) 47—502, D. i §, MoKensie (Opaki) 47—503, '

£1 each: H. Sharland (Nelson) 46 — 502, F. T, White (Okawa) 45 — 502, H. K. Smith (Opaki) 502, S. H. Haraldsen (Napier) 43 — 502, A.- H. O'Donnell (Petone) 42 — 502, R. Conv greve (Old Navals) 47—501, F. J, Jeune (Gisborne) 45— 501, H. Harries (Christchurch) 46—500, J. I. King (Karori) 44—500, J. Tansley (Invercargill) 44 — 500j, L. H. Profiitt (Napier) '15 500, D. E. Wilton (Whangarei) 45 — 499, H, L. Mason (Christchurch)^ 43 — £99, S. Lumsden (Levin) 46 — £98^ C. A. Wohlers (Wangaratta, Australi£) 46 — 498, J. C, Feast, (Greytown^ 44 — £98, J. Sim (Okawa) 44 — £98, H, Eing (Opaki) 40—498, P. B. Goldfinch (Karori) 45 — 497, J, A. Munro (Mataura) 43 — £97, A, R. Symons (Okawa), 48 — £96, F. Bolton (Opaki) 46 — £96, C. Percy (Alfredton) 46—496, R. Ellia (Takapau) 43 — £96, L. Fellinghain (Suburbs) 45 ■ .195, F. N. McVicar (Waipukurau) 45 — £95, M. Jones (Wanganui) 44 — £95, B. M. Castles (Waikopiro) 40 195, A. Js Brown l (Hautere) 43—494, J, F. Faxley j (Whnganui) 43—494, Js F, Fletche? ! (Dannevirke)- 42 — £94, N. Perkins (Westport) 42 — £93, F. Hickenbotham (Christchurch) 42 — £93, E. T. Haldane (Waipukurau) 42 — £93, F. H. Jame3 (Napier) 43 — £92, W. Oakley (Christchurch) 44 — £92, D. F. Keir (Christchurch) 39—490, C, Whiteman (Old Navals) 37 — £89. Champion Teams Match. (Teams of four men, seven rounds each • at 300, 500 and 600 yards.) District Challenge Shield and four miniature cups and £12: Christchurch No. 2 (D. Fv Keir, W. Oakley, F. Hiscock, E. R. Truman) 405. £8: Akarana (J. R. Diaffon, E. J. C. Reston, R. F. Wakefield, A. S. Elliott) '404. £6: Wanganui No. 2 (R. Shaw, J, Christian, P. C. Hamilton, J. Paterson) 403. £5: Auckland City No. 1 (C. J. M, j Clark, A. W. Harris, S. C. Parkinson, 'F. Bowes) 401. £4: Invercargill City Guards (W. McChesney, . J. Tansley, W. J. Murray, B. Broomfield) 400. Rifle Club' Champion team match (ali scores in belt matches except iinai ten shots): Petone Rifle Club's Champ- i ion Aggregate Shield and four niinia- • ture silver cups: Opaki No. 1;(H. King, ? H. H. Mawley, H. K. Smith, D. 8, McKenzie) 1808.