RIFLE SHOOTING.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 55, 29 February 1912, Page 5

RIFLE SHOOTING.

THE DOMINION ASSOCIATION MEETING. AN INAUSPICIOUS OPENING. CPor Press Association ) Tronthsun, February 28. When the revielle sounded this morning for opening the Dominion Rifle Association meeting at Trentham, the weather was warm and genial, and promised a fine day. The teams entered for the service teams’ matches, which formed Series A on the f. rag* an me, were instructed to parade at 8.15, and it was intended to start the Islington Cup competition, which includes marching and an attack on a position, represented by 'argots. At 9 a.m., however, at the time appointed, only one team appeared at the squadding posts, although! four had entered. The Opaki Rifle Club ha I their full number of twelve •'len, and a commander, but the Suburbs Rifle Club only had ten men, and the Karon Rifle Club only nine •non, while Nelson Infantry Regiment, the other entrant, nad only one reorcsentative. As one of the c,.options of the series was three entries or no match, it was palpably impossible to start. Lieut.-Col. Hughes, who in the absence of Col. Collins was in command, postponed the parade until 2 o’clock, to give the teams a chance of getting other members of their teams together. At 2 o’clock there was no further appearance of the absentees, and Col. Collins, who had arrived in the meantime, decided to postpone the teams’ matches till the next day.

A couple of extra matches had been placed on the programme, one at 800yds and one at 900yds, as practices for those men who wore not shooting with the teams, and 001. Collins issued instructions to add a match at 300yds, and one at 1000yds. Men had been steadily drifting in all day, and at 3 o’clock there were 327 entries for the meeting, with a probability of at least a dozen more before the individual matches start on Friday morning.

At noon a sharp shower came cn, "d’ich afterwards turned into a ; toady downpour, but the light was cxcoilent, which gave opportunities foi 1 >• fnl prae 1 ; u,.. ~itrics are several ox-champions, and shooting to-day were G. Hyde, R. J. King, D. Roots, and Ross. W. S. King is another ox-champion who has entered.

Shooting in the 800yds match was an index of the meeting, and showed that most of the men were in 'excellent form. There were two possibles and a long string of 34’s, among the latter. being Marshall, Marenzi, Love day, and Roots, all of whom were airing ‘their Bisley experiences. James, another Bisley representative, who made such a sensation at Grey town by scooping the majority of the prizes, also put up 34. Boots also got 34 at 900yds, at which the shooting was very warm. B. J. King got 33. The match was won by Barklo (Wellington) .with the possible. - r-

At lOODyds Malcolm (Wellington) was on top with 34. Among the 32 T s were Loveday, Marenzi, Barkte and Maingay. The 300yds mate'll, which was the last fired, produced two possibles in Bussell (Petone) and Woolley (3rd Regiment).

To-morrow morning shooting will commence at 9 o’clock with the Colonial Ammunition Company’s Cup Match, for field firing by teams, and it is expected three teams will start. There will also he a number of extra matches put on for practice purposes. There has been a misunderstanding on the part of many competitors as regards the service teams’ matches, most of them being under the idea that they must enter for the series. This was not so, as each match was independent of the others.

The extra matches fired to-dnv were sweepstake matches, and altogether apart from the official programme. The following is the completed prize-list in the 800yds match, seven shots.—Hugo (Karori) 35 and Athorough (Nelson) 35 each, £1 12s Gd; Nicholson (Petone) 34, £1 ss; Marshall (Karori), Marcnzi (Eketahnna), Cresswcll (Taumarino) 34, each £1; L. Loveday (Woodville), Arnold ('Auckland), Jones (Okawa), Roots (Kaponga), Lane (Auckland), aid A’almrav (PI in. >) 33, each Jss.

THE SECOND DAY. Tront’liam, February 29. The second day at Trcutham opened with fine weather and excellent shooting conditions. The teams for the Colonial Ammunition Company’s Cup lined up at 9 o’clock. There were only rwo teams—Opaki and Karori Rifle Clubs. The field competition at distances of 800 to .500 yards, disappearing targets, Karori won after a hard struggle, with good shooting. The winning team made 19 hits, and Opaki 17. Karori having won the cup three times are now the permanent holders of the most handsome trophy in the Association’s collection. The winning team is captained by Marshall, and Opaki by H. 11. King. The rest of the day was occupied with extra and practice sweepstake matches.