Empire's Largest Bowling Area

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 927, 21 March 1930, Page 9

Empire's Largest Bowling Area

Historic Remuera Club Founded 1895 Today Has 36 Rinks

Written for THE SOX bp

"JACK HIGH.")

PRIDE of place in any walk of life or sport rarely happens by mere chance. Mostly, it is clearly indicative of extremely i well-directed effort —the resultant ! fruits of prominence being the j prize. That success becomes in j | turn important; for underlying it are the principles that brought it about. They are worthy of close : study and in turn application. In them there is usually some shin- I ! ing example to follow—a good j i lesson to be learned. Hence, when Auckland can claim that the Kcmuera Bowling Club has been j successful in establishing the largi est membership of any club in the Dominion, coupled with the most i extensive playing area of all clubs j in the Empire, the system of club ( goverment that brought about I such astounding success and those j personalities who originated it bel come of intense interest and j importance to all participants of j the game on the green and to all l clubs generally.

And that success did not merely happen. It came not by chance, like a. game of bowls, where the final bowl “wicked in” and lay the game. On the contrary it came by the diligent application of sound club government over a number of years exhibited and applied by thoughtful, well-selected officers—men, well tried, who in their professional and business avocations had individually made similar successes. The story then of the formation and history of the Remuera Bowling Ciul> | is worthy of relating not only to the members of the bowling fraternity but j 1.0 all kindred sport generally.

Formed in the year 1895, the club held its initial meeting in the Remuera vicarage, at which Messrs. J. Russell. J. Hardie. R. Crowe, A. Holden, A. Walsh, J. Brown, A. C. Stevenson, S. Hanna, T. Finlayson, W. W. Bruce, A. A. Steel, A. Maxfield, Hon. H. de B. Devereux, James Stewart, T. Cluing, Major D. E. Peel, D. E. Clerk, D. S. Cattanach, R. A. Boddle and the Rev. W. Beatty were present. Other gentlemen associated with the formation of the club were the Hon. Edwin Mitchelson, M.L.C., and the late Mr. David Dingwall. A portion of the property now held by the club in Market Road was secured and it entered upon its successful life. WIDE ARRAY OF MEMBERS

ion of New Zealand Bowling Association in 1918 and champion of champions in 1898. Mr. J. Wooller, popular schoolmaster j and now recently retired, his bowling j ! career being particularly brilliant, J was champion of his club for no less than eight seasons. Other members j were: Mr. A. R. Graham, City' Solicitor; j Mr. R. E. Williams, mining engineer, j a director of the Waihi Goldmining j Company, Ltd., and the Wilsons Portland Cement Company*, Ltd.; Mr. J. O. Badeley, of the Xew Zealand Insurance Company, Ltd.; Mr. Fred. Clark, ; retired farmer; the late Rev. W. Beatty*; Peter F. Watson, director of | Messrs. A. and G. Price, Ltd.; Mr. E. i A. East, of the Northern Steamship i Company, Ltd.; the late Mr. X. McRobie, of the firm of the Business Printing Company, Ltd.; the late Mr. | O. W. Garrard, senior school inspect- j tor; Mr. A. Davis, director of Messrs. L. D. Nathan, Ltd.; Mr. PI. C. Choyce, of the firm of Milne and Choyce, Ltd.; Mr. T. R. Procter, manager of the National Electrical and Engineering j Company, Ltd.; and Mr. E. E. Daniels. ; retired businessman. WELL-KNOWN MEN Among the members are Messrs. Jos. Hill of Messrs. Hill and Plummer, Ltd.; S. Kissling, partner in the firm of .Tagger and Harvey; E. D. Ashton, secretary* of the Auckland Gas Company. Ltd.; Hugh Wright, of Messrs. Hugh Wright, Ltd.; S. J. Harbutt, prominent Auckland businessman; J. P. Ridings, collector of customs; A. R. Graham, solicitor; P. Macfarlane, builder and contractor; Frank Sexton, manager of Messrs. Redpath, Ltd.; F. M. Short, general manager of John Chambers and Sons, Ltd.; C. Spooner, of the South British Insurance Company, Ltd.; Raymond Sheath, land agent; E. S. Wigh, manager of the Pulcemiro Collieries, Ltd.; C. G. Brookes, auctioneer; A. V. Burcher, of Samuel Vaile, Ltd.; W. Bartlett, retired photographer; G. Dixon, of the “Observer”; IT. Johnson, of Messrs. Cooke and Company, Ltd.; R. J. Law-

Like the Auckland Club, a splendid array of men who have been closely' associated With the business life of the Queen City of the North were members. They included the late Mr. James Russell, of the well-known firm of solicitors, Messrs. Jackson and Russell; the late Mr. J. Hardie, of the old-time firm, Messrs. Hardie Bros.; the late Mr. John Brown, of the firm of the D.S.C., which has been succeeded by the prominent firm of John Court, Ltd.; the late Mr. T. Finlayson, who was manager of Messrs. Sargood, Son, and Ewen’s Auckland branch; the late Mr. E. Ranson, who was general manager of the Northern Steamship Company, .Ltd.; the late Mr. A. C. Stevenson, director of the firm of Archibald Clark and Sons, Ltd.; the late Mr. George Court, founder of the. widely-known firm of George Court and Sons, Ltd.; J. M. Lennox, prominent Auckland businessman; .D. E. Clerk; D. F. Caldwell, of Messrs, Macky, Logan and Caldwell, Ltd.: J. F. Sanderson, of Messrs. L. D. Nathan, Ltd.; T. X. Baxter, prominent Auckland solicitor, A. B. Roberton. of Messrs. Heather, Roberton, Ltd.; W. D. McLean, late manager of the National Bank; the late Mr. T. Mahoney, prominent Auckland architect; and the late Mr. J. P. Campbell, prominent Auckland solicitor, and member of the firm of Russell and Campbell. Mr. M. M. McCallum, prominent Auckland businessman, who has a splendid record for the game on the green, was president of the Domin-

rence, banker; G. L. Mellars, land agent; A. E. Smith, banker; E. K. Vickerman, banker; W. Wallace, chemist; J. Dempsey, of Newmarket; R. R. , Menzies, of Messrs. Gray and Menzies; P. O'Leary, of O’Leary and i Downs, Ltd.; J. Robertson, of Robertson Bros., Ltd.; C. Westwood, retired engineer; Robert Burns, of John Burns, Ltd.; John Hard ley. of Messrs. ! Hardleys, Ltd.; J. R. McXaughton, of j the National Bank; G. H. Kissling, of the Colonial Sugar Refining Company, j Ltd.; J. C. Kissling, of the A.M.P. j Society; Sir Geo. Richardson, late Administrator of Samoa; and a nuru- ! ber’ of others. Prominent educationists include Professors A. C. Paterson, C. W. Egerton and H. W. Segar, of the staff of the Auckland University College. Schoolmasters retired and active include H. J. D. Mahon, headmaster of the Auckland Grammar School, W. Wooller, W. R. C. Walker. F. Murphy. J. Brook, J. Whitaker, W. Priestley, A. X. Scott, T. U. Wells, and A. Whet* ter. Solicitors include Messrs. A. Styak, F. W. Wake, R. A. Graham. HR. Ready and C. Mahoney. Among the doctors are: F. W. Fullerton, J. H. H. Wood, de Boissierre. Railway* servants include W. Boles, J. Kearney’, J. Brownlie and G. Gannaway. Clergymen include the Rev. H. Ryan and the. Rev. Canon Tuke. Mr. W. S. Fisher, retired official assignee, is a member also. The champions of the club include the Rev. W. Beatty, Richard Hull, H. S. Ruddock, J. M. Lennox, TT. Kent, the Rev. C. B. Monroe, D. M. Dingwall. J. F. Sanderson, G. Wilkinson, J. Wooller, M. G. Harvie, D. Long, J. F. Bailey, A. R. Graham, E. E. Daniels, E. S. Kissling, and L. Russell, the last-named being the holder of the champion of champions singles title. RECORD FOR EMPIRE Properly* governed by such successful ! men, the club has continuously added

to its playing area until today it stands .it 36 rinks—a record tor the Empire. On these magnificent surfaces the club staged a record event last New Year’s Day, at which no less than -32 players participated. Considering that during the past annual tournament conducted by the Dominion of New Zealand Bowling Association, which drew the ,■ entrants from the whole of the Domini ion. only 360 players entered, it is a clear indication of the immense popularity e>f the club and a fine tribute to the quality of the greens- that such a lull entry was present. The satisfactory conditions of the greens can be attributed to the methods adopted by the green com- ; mij-tee, when Mr. D. Long rook office ' some years ago. At that time they were overrun with clover, Onehunga and other weeds too numerous to particularise. The usual practice had been to dig and resow.* There were two objections jto this. It was espensive, and the ] levels were disturbed, which took a considerable time to rectify. He sugi gested skimming the surface of two or three inches and allowing the soil exposed to lie fallow for a month or 1 two in the summer, and watering : during that period to force the geri nfination of seeds, and thus eradicating them in this manner. Against most determined opposition he had his way; the experiment was made on a small green, and the results were extremely sati sf actory. All the greens were treated in the same manner, with the result that during the past three or four years ! the Remuera greens have been as good |as any in Auckland, giving extreme ; pleasure to the members and being j used continuously for the many tournaments staged by the Auckland Bowling Centre. ! The greens at the present time o.re under the care of Messrs. D. L. Long. H. J. Bray and A. D. Newton. Mr. R. Johnson is the green-keeper and prior to his taking up that position was green-keeper at the famous but now defunct Karangahake Club. The policy of the government of the club is simple in the extreme. In plain terms the success of the Remuera Club can be attributed to the policy of keeping the concentration of the players on the activities of the ■ greens and reducing, on the other hand, [ i the other activities to a bare minil | mum.