INTERNATIONAL RIFLE MATCH AT AUCKLAND.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 19, Issue 1266, 6 March 1872, Page 2

INTERNATIONAL RIFLE MATCH AT AUCKLAND.

[NEW ZEALAND HEIIAT/D, FEB. 2G.J On Saturday the competitors met at the Mount Eden Rifle Range to file this match. The conditions were : Eight men a-side ; ranges, 200, 500, and 600 yards, any position, target six feet by six. The day was gloomy, with a strong N.E. wind blowing, which afterwards increased into very nearly a gale, and brought heavy rain with it. The teams fell in shortly after one o'clock, and the Englishmen having won the choice, opened the ball. It will be seen by the annexed scores that at the end of the first range the Irish were one point ahead of the English, and eighteen ahead of the Scotch. By the time the larger targets had erected at the next ranges (500 yards), the wind was very strong, and the rain incessant ; and the targets became almost indistinguishable from the background, in consequence of the black paint of the bull's eye streaming over and turning the whole into a dingy brown. At this range, the English finished with 135 points, the Scottish being second, with 121 points; and the Irish, 106 ; and the scores, so far, were —English, 276 ; Irish, 248 ; Scottish, 245. Before proceeding to the final distance of the match, a long discussion arose as to the advisability of a postponement, but it was decided to continue. At 600 yards it was with difficulty that anything whatever could be seen of the butts, tor the rain fell in torrents, and at last the light became so bad that, although hits were known to be made, it wae impossible to tell whether any signal was up or not; and it was agreed to finish the match on a future day. In the number of rounds fired at the 600 yards range, the English succeeded in drawing three points more ahead, and the scores stand at—English, 315; Irish, 284; and Scottish, 280; thus leaving to the two last a struggle for a second place,

Late Auckland papers 1 egret to learn that John Sheehan, Esq , member of Provincial Executive, is seriously indisposed. A bonus ot £2500 is offered by the General Government for the first hunched tons of printing paper produced in the colony by machinery. The required quantity must be produced before the 30th June, 1873. The weight of each printing ream is to be not less than thirty pounds. The Rev. J. B.uller has been giving an audience in the Wesleyan Chapel, Gialiamstown, an account of his ,- isit to Melbourne to attend the late "Wesleyan Conference. He is reported to. have said that an experiment was now being tried in Victoria between protection and free trade. For the most part he found that intelligent men thought that protection was a great mistake,, and that free-trade was much better,, but the working classes were of opinion that protection was a great advantageto them, and as there was nearly manhood suffrage, they carried the day. The effect was—although the workingclasses were not sufficiently intelligent to see it—that it lessened the price of labor, and increased the price of provisions, and also did much to paralyse the foreign commerce of Victoria. There were political mistakes in every country, and in this as much as in others.