NORTHERN BOWLING TOURNAMENT.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8327, 8 January 1907, Page 6

NORTHERN BOWLING TOURNAMENT.

OPENING DAY'S PLAY. The Northern Bowling Association's Biennial Club Champion Fours Tournament was opened on the Masterton Bowling Club's Greens, yesterday morning. The weather was fine. Before nine o'clock the majority of the members of the 22 rinks taking part in the Tournament were on the ground, and getting as much practice as possible. About 9 o'clock, Mr 0. Pragnell, Vice-President of the Masterton Club, in a short speech, welcomed the visiting bowlers. He said he was pleased to see such a large number of bowlers present, and he hoped their stay hi Masterton would be an enjoyable one. He regretted that Mr F. J. Dignan, the popular President of the Masterton Club, was prevented from being , there to welcome them, as he had been looking forward to the gathering, and it was largely due to his efforts that the arrangements for the Tournament were in such an advanced state. Mr Pragnell apologised for the absence of Messrs F. W. Haybittle, President of the North Island Bowling Association, F. J. Barlow, President of the New Zealand Bowling Association, and R. T. Wheeler, Secretary of the NewZea land Bowling Association. He was sure that the Tournament games would prove interesting, because he had no doubt all present were prepared to "do or die" for their respective Clubs. It had been said that bowling was a game for old men, but he held that no man who played bowls was old, not even if he were 80 years of age. To learn how true was this fact they had only to see the enthusiastic manner in which the older members entered into their games. In the winter bowlers might "shuffle off this mortal coil," but never in tl?e summer. He reminded the visitors that this was the first attempt made by the Masterton Club to receive such a large' number of "bowlers, and he hoped they would overlook any little defects. He hoped they would find pleasure in all the games. With regard to the greens he stated that everything that was possible had been done to make them play well, and he thought they would be found well up to expectations. He mentioned that the visitors had been granted free access to the Commercial and Farmers' Club, and he hoped they would take advantage of that privilege during their stay in Masterton. He then declared the' Tournament open, and handed over the control of it to Mr J. H. Mentiplay, Secretary of the North Island Bowling Association, whom he was sorry to say could not stay during the whole course of the Tournament. The prizes offered for the Tournament are four pairs of silver bowls or trophies to their value for the win-

ners, and four pairs of ivory bowls or trophies to their value for the run- • ners-up. There is also a special prize of trophies ' to the value of £8 8s for the Club having the least number of points scored against them during the Tournament. An excellent lunch was provided under the supervision of Mr E. Pelling. The ladies in charge of the afternoon tea were Mesdames Richards, Cochrane, Boagey, C. Perry, Carpenter, Miller, "Wright, Braddock, Thompson, Mutrie, McEwen, Perry and Robieson. The Club left nothing to be desired in Catering for the visitors. FIRST ROUND. A start was made "with the play in tlie first round, about 9.30 o'clock, there being ten rinks engaged. The greens played very fast. The games all through proved interesting. The best game of the day was that between Ponsonby and Gisborne. The latter team got well away at the beginning of the game, and at the -eighth head they had scored 15 points to Ponsonby's 5. At the tenth head Ponsonby had drawn up to 14, while their opponents remained at 15. At the 17th head the score was 20 all, and at the 21st head it was 24 all. This necessitated an extra head being played, which resulted in Ponsonby gaining the winning point, mainly through the fine shot of their skip, Mr Swales. The game be- ' tween Pahiatua and Victoria was productive of some good play. Victoria failed to score until the 4th head, their opponents by that time having scored - six. Victoria kept a steady lead all through the game, and won with 10 , points to spare. Greytown were ! beaten by Dannevirke by 26 to 13, the [former team not being able to accustom themselves to the, green. t In 11 out of the 21 heads the losers failed to score. In the Hutt-Carter-ton match the latter held the lead all through. Their greatest lead was 9 points on the 6th head. Hutt got within 2 points of Carterton's score on the 18th head, but they were unable to catch their opponents, who won by 2 points. Upper Plain were beaten by Petone by 8 points. The former had an advantage of three points ton the second head, but from that stage onwards to the end of the igame Petone kept up a substantial lead. In their match with Eltham Carlton failed to score until the third head when they put on 5. This gave them a lead, which they kept through■out, winning eventually by 5 points. The Masterton - Feilding :game was a very even contest, the teams being practically level until the 11th head. Feilding put on 4 on the 12th head, but they failed to -score again until the 18th head was reached. .Masterton in'the meantime drew up by ones and two's, and at the 18th head they were 3 points •ahead of their opponents. Masterton failed to score on the 19th and 20th heads, but Feilding put on 7 and .at the last head they put on 1 point to the home team's nil, thus winning by 24 points to 19 points. 'The "Wellington Club were unable to settle down in their play, Stratford beating them by 11 points. Stratford ■got a good start and put on 10 to the city team's two in 7' heads. 'The winning team played well, and never allowed their opponents to get nearer than 4 poipts to them. A good game was that played between Newtown and Napier, only one point, separating the teams at the finish. Three heads were played Ibefore Napier were able to score. At 'the 20th head they were 2 points to the bad. By good play on the last head they secured, 3 points, while their opponents failed to .iscore, and they scored a win by 1

point. Karori only compiled 9 points in their match against Te Rau, who, playing well, put on 31 points. The losers only scored on 5 heads, their greatest score on one head being 2 points. The results were as follow : FIRST ROUND. Victoria (Martin, Brodie, Townsend, Norwood, skip) 29, beat Pahiatua (Hughes, Mitchell, Mcßratney, Ranson, skip) 19. Carterton (Bish, Ramsay, Baillie, Fisher, skip) 19, beat Hutt (Hillard, Barlow, Trevethick, Hendry, skip) 17. Petone (Southgate, Cooper, Coles, Wylie, skip) 28, beat Upper Plain (W. Pra;.;nell, Cresswell, Dupre, Coradine, skip) 20. Ponsonby (Robinson, McLeod, Mcintosh, Swales, skip) 25, beat Gisborne (Martin, Nicholson, Gaudin, Ponsford, skip) 24. Napier (Holt, Rev. Hayward, Smith, Bull, skip) 18, beat Newton, (Alpe, Meyrick, Ramsay, Laughton, skip) 17. Feilding (Thomson, Stewart, Sandilands, Saywell, skip) 24, beat Masterton (Perry, Rigg, Cochrane, Whittaker, skip) 19. Te Rau (Pettie, Harris, Hennessy, Massey, skip) 31, beat Karori (Cook, Spiers, Lloyd, Cooper, skip) 9. Carlton (Laurie, Curteis, Wratball, Kilgour, skip) 18, beat Eltham (Jenkins, Hyde, Carmen, Hill, skip) 13. Stratford (Osmond, Bett, Curtis, Smart, skip) 25, beat Wellington (Brown, Gall, Churchward, McLean, skip) 14. Dannevirke (Bartlett, Clarke, Potts, Hawkins, skip) 26, beat Greytown (Furlong, Rev. Brown, Nicholls, McFarlane, skip) 13. Greenmeadows (Currie, Simmonds, Smith, Kennedy, skip) and Patea (Gilshnan, W. Gibson, J. Gibson, Williams, skip) a bye. SECOND ROUND.

In the second round the match between Te Rau and Carlton was a most interesting one. At the eleventh head Carlton had a lead of 7 points, and at the thirteenth head they had increased their lead to 9 points, Te Rau gradually drew up, and they eventually won a good game with 4 points to spare. The play of the two skips on the last head was well worth witnessing. The game between Masterton and Patea was won from the start. Masterton obtained a lead on the fifth head and maintained it all through, winning easily by 19 points. The Wellington and Newtown Clubs played a very even game. The scores were equal up to the fifth head, when the Wellington rink got ahead by 3 points, the score reading Newton 2, Wellington 5. From this stage of the game to the finish the Wellington rink maintained their lead, and won the match by 16 to 14. The Ponsonby team that defeated Gisborne in the first round were beaten by Greenmeadows in the second round. Ponsonby, in the first three heads, scored 3, and at the end of the ninth head their score was still the same. They then got two and their score read 5, against Greenmeadows' 10. Ponsonby played a fine up-hill game. Out of the 19 scored by them, 9 were obtained in the last four heads. Greenmeadows played consistently right through, and won by 22 to 19. The match between the Hutt and Dannevirke rinks resulted in a very'easy win for the latter, the scores being Dannevirke 42, Hutt 17. The Carterton rink met Petone, and were defeated after a very evenly-contested and interesting game. At the thirteenth head both rinks were level—ls each. The next head gave 3 to Petone, and the next wo heads added 5 to Carterton's score, the board showing— Petone 18, Carterton 20. Carterton, however, failed to score in the nex't four heads, and Petone eventually won by 25 to 22. The match between Pahia tua and Gisborne resulted in a very easy win for Pahiatua, who started well by scoring on the first two heads, and maintaining their lead. They increased it on every head, and on the ninth head scored 6. They eventually won easily by 15 points. Upper Plain met Victoria on No. 2 rink. The game was an even one up to the eighth head, when Victoria fell to pieces, and only scored once during the next nine heads. The final scores were —Upper Plain 26, Victoria 20. The following are the results: — Greenmeadows (22) beat Ponsonby (19). Pahiatua (28) beat Gisborne (13). Upper Plain (26) beat Victoria (20). Dannevirke (42) beat Hutt (17). Petone (25) beat Carterton (22). Wellington (16) beat Newtown (14). Stratford (31); beat Eltham (17). Masterton (31) beat Patea (12). Te Rau (23) beat Carlton (19). Feilding (28) beat-Karori (16). Napier, a bye. Greytown, a bye. THIRD ROUND.

; The third round was not completed until after 7 o'clock. The Grey-town-Greenmeadows match was fairly even up to t the Bth head, when Greenmeadows , took the lead and kept it throughout. In their game with Dannevirke Petone were leading up to the 17th head. Then Dannevirke drew level, and eventually won with four points to spare. Petone only scored one on the last 4 heads. Wellington beat Eltham by 22 points, the winners scoring the majority of their points towards the end, of the game. At the 7th head Eltham were leading by 2 points, but after that Wellington assumed the lead, and kept it to the end. The StratfordTe Rau contest was an even one until the 6th head. After that Te Rau forged ahead, and won with 15 points to spare. The match between Patea and Karori was a splendid one to witness, the two teams being well matched. The teams were practically on level terms all through the match. ' At the 19th head they had 17 points each to their credit, but, on the last two heads Karori scored 3 points •to their opponent's 2 points, and won the match by the narrow margin of one point. Another good game was that between Carlton and Feilding. At the 11th head they had scored 11 points each, and at the 15th head, each team had 16 points to its credit. Carlton then gained i. a slight lead, and won by 5 points. 1 Results: - Greenmeadows 26 beat Greytown 14. Victoria 34 beat Carterton 9. Dannevirke 23 beat Petone 19. Gisborne 20 beat Upper Plain 17. Wellington 33 beat Eltham 11.

Masterton 18 beat Napier 16. Te Rau 25 beat Stratford 10. Pahiatua 38 beat Ponsonby 13. Karori 20 beat Patea 19. Carlton 24 beat Feilding 19. Newtown a bye. Hutt a bye.