RIFLE SHOOTING.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 207, 29 February 1912, Page 8

RIFLE SHOOTING.

THE TRENTHAM MEETING. AN INAUSPICIOUS OPENING. By Telegraph—Press Association. Trentham, Last Night. 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 programme, were instructed to parade at 8.15, and it was intended to start the Islington Cup competition, which includes inarching and an attack on a position, represented by jtargets. 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 had their full number of twelve men, and a commander, but the Suburbs Rifle Club only ; had ten men, and the Karori Rifle Club only nine men, while Nelson Infantry [Regiment, the other entrant, had only : one representative. As one of the conditions 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, j postponed the parade until 2 o'clock, to give the teams a chance of getting other 1 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 800 yards, and one at 900 yards, as practices for those men who were not shooting with the teams, and Col.' Collins issued instructions to add a match at 300 yards,a ? d at 1000 ->' ar<ls - 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'i start on Friday mor*ing, l.t noon, a sharp shower came on, which afterwards turned into a steady downpour, but the light was excellent, which gave opportunities for useful practices. Among the entries are several exchampions, and shooting to-dav were G. a' £ J \ Kin S> D - Roots > and Ross, w. fc>. King is another ex-champion who has entered. <

Shooting in the 800 yards match was an index of the meeting, and showed that ttust of the men were in excellent form, lutrp were two possibles and a lons ?, f 34 ' s ' amon 8 latter being Marshall, Marenzi, and Roots, all of whom were airing their Bisley experiences., James, another Bisley representative, who made such a sensation at Greytown by scooping the majority of the prizes, also put up 34. Roots also got 34 at 900 yards, at which the shooting was very warm. R. J. King got 33. Ihe match was won by Barkle (Wellington) with the possible. At 1000 yards, Malcolm (Wellington) was on top with 34. Among the 32's were Loveday, Marenzi, Barkle and Mamgay. 6 ■ The 300 yards match, which was the last fired, produced two possibles,, in ment* ne ) Woolley (3rd Regi-

| 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 be 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' Tt of them bein S under idea that they must enter for the series. , T as , so > as each match was independent of the others. The extra matches fired to-day were sweepstake matches, and altogether apart from the programme. The following is the completed prizeWTf ?; ards match > seven shots. -Hugo (Karon) 35 and Atborough (Nels°n! 35 each £1 12s 6d: Nicholson S'f' 4 ™ 14

Opening day report from the seat of Tr^rT™ 3 rifle shootin g centre (Trentham) _i S not by any means encouraging Some grave fault must exist in either the programme or the conditions imposed; otherwise there would be a better response from the many rifle shots who so dearly look forward to keen competition a|; the mounds. Much has been heard at the street cornel as, to the many faults'existing in the present-day programme, arid without doubt there are substantial amendments needed if the council in power desire to attract the support of the shootPi 0 fra^ rni , t y- A fair muster of New ilymouth shots have left for the seat ot competition, and more are to follow, it is hoped that the "present holder of the Champion Belt (Rifleman Roots, of Kaponga) may be m proper fettle and able to maintain his good reputation as the _man behmd the gun, and so win urther honors for the Taranaki district., CANADIAN BISLEY TEAM. By Cable—Press Association—Copyright. . ~ TT ' Ottawa, February 27. Mr. Hughes, Minister of Militia, an- " " nc f' s a , 110 Canadian team will be sent to Bisley to compete in the 1912 ( meeting unless .the National Rifle Association changed its.rales regarding the Ross rifle. Canadian riflemen have 1 thTnu r Ct \ d t0 - Various ann °yances in the Old Country since the Ross rifle has attained its present high state of efficiency.