KAIHU CLIPPINGS

Wairoa Bell, Volume V, Issue 170, 4 November 1892, Page 3

KAIHU CLIPP INGS

[By Old Kaihu.] A meeting of the Rifle Club was held in Mr McLeod’s office in Dargaville on Saturday last and it was decided to remove the targets to Arapohue. Rifle shooting seems to have died out to a great extent on this part of the river. This is much to be regretted as in a young country like this every man should know how to handle his rifle with at least a moderate degree of skill. I noticed Mr Haswell’s reply to query about the Martini Henri. We should be pleased to see him back with the championship but—life is short. I see very little preparation in Dargaville for the forthcoming Regatta. In past years morning and evening the wharves would be crowded with spectators watching different crews in training. All I have seen out so far are two sailing boats.

I think it a great pity that such manly sports as rifle shooting and aquatics should be neglected for so much horse racing with its attendant betting and gambling. I hear the whale -boat race can’t come off, one of the boats having vanished, disappeared and gone from our gaze like a beautiful dream. I would suggest that gentlemen who find it necessary to discuss the disappearance of that whale boat in a loud tone of voice, and to call each other blank blanks, should do so in a back room and not where every word can be heard on the side walk.