BILLIARDS.

Waikato Times, Volume VII, Issue 364, 12 September 1874, Page 5 (Supplement)

BILLIARDS.

M. Adrian Izau, the celebrated French champion hand-stroke player, gave one of his unique entertainments in the billiard saloon of the Angel Hotel, on Wednesday. He, as a hand-stroke player, stands alone. He has several imitators, but his principal strokes and singular style of play are his own inventions, and the results of the practice of a lifetime, so that as yet no one has been able to rival him in the peculiar line which he has marked out for himself. The first event was a cannon game 150 points, between M. Izar and Mr Joseph Mills, the latter receiving 50 points. M. Izar played some remarkable cannons, which were generally got off the cushions by the great amount of side put upon the ball by fingers and thumb; but for about two-thirds of the game the play was slow and the breaks small, until the scores stood —Mills 98, Izar, 80. The French champion then made ten successive cannons, and passed his opponent, who could never again head him. M. Izar soon afterwards made another break of 20 (10 cannons) and one of 22 (11 cannons), and with a few smaller breaks won the game by 38 points, the score being Izar 150, Mills 112. Mr Mills' best break was 10 (five cannons). The second event was a game of billiards, 500 points up, Mr Mills receiving 200 points. The principal feature of the game was what M. Izar terms his spot stroke. The stroke is not to pocket the red, but to play the losing hazard off it, and this the French champion does as often and as certainly as our English champion plays the ordinary spot stroke. M. Izar opened with the usual miss, and after a few unimportant strokes, Mr Mills was the first to show play in a neat break of 18. M. Izar replied with 47, including 15 of his spot strokes, and followed in his next break with 30, composed of ten of the same strokes, bringing the score to—Mills 223, Izar 106. The Shemelder soon afterwards played a break of 14, to which the Frenchmau at once responded with 57, 19 " spots." A few strokes later, M. Izar made a fine break of 117, occup3 Ting only 1J minute and including 36 " spots," at the same time passing his opponent and leaving the score at Izar 332, Mill 251. The latter endeavoured to ptill up, and soon added a good 27 and the 23, but the hand player, in Ik minute, ran up to 137, including 34 and 9 successive "spots," making the score —lzar 488, Mills 311. The play flagged somewhat until the scoi*e had been run up to—lzar 496, Mills 329. The French champion then made the break of the evening, 78 successive " spots," counting 234, in 2i minutes. The most wonderful part of the entertainment, j however, consisted of the display of fancy handstrokes. Many of the strokes require to be seen i to be understood, and want of space prevents any lengthened description, so we shall briefly indicate the chief performances. The. snake cannon between ■ two decanters and six glasses; the express-train cannon on the woodwork of the cushion ; the steeplechase cannon along the cushion ; the figure 4 can- < non with four balls and with three balls; the cannon from the top cushion iuto the baulk by two strokes of the cue; the cue cannon from the corner into a hat, and into second, third, fourth, and fifth hats, the hats being placed above each other ; the cannon with two cues; the miss-cue cannons; the cannons off the table on to the floor ; and the cannons with 10, 12, and 15 pyramid balls. M. Izar also spun two balls on separate plates, one ball spinning 5| minutes and ths other 1\ minutes. —London Paper.

The following somewhat eccentric behaviour of a youthful Newfoundland dog during a visit to the Virginian Enterprise press-room, we have pleasure in describing. The animal, on entering the room, after inspecting the cunning of the job-press for some time, went up to it, and stuck his nose between a pair of cog-wheels, leaving between them a piece of skin about the size of a dollar. He next turned his attention to the bed of the power-press, which sesmed to be shooting in and out in a playful manTier. On seeing it apparently retreating from him, he made a closer inspection, but was almost instantly knocked down by the return of the bed. This somewhat roused his ire ; a battle ensued, but, being repeatedly knocked down as each paper was struck oft*, ho finally retired, and watched the operation at a distance. Being shut up in the room during the next day, he made his bed in an empty ink-barrel, but, being black himself, the condition he was in, was not noticed until he was taken on board the train for Carson. It was then found that he was as full of ink as one of the ink-balls used by printers in the early days of printing, and, " being an affectionate and playful cuss, the consternation he created abroad that train can well be imagined./ (