GOOD CONDITIONS

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Volume 59, Issue 261, 6 December 1930, Page 13

GOOD CONDITIONS

RIFLEMEN'S UNIQUE EXPERIENCE II ;B. DEFENCE RIFLE CLUBS

• (Notes by "RicoclieV)

With all the talk of peace pacts and disanning throughout tlie Empire, and with littJe knowledge of tlie true state of affairs military, as regards the attitude of foreign powers, who all seem to be playing a good game of bluff, and one for you, two for me, at those conferences, it is comforting to note that no less than 70 odd members of rifle clubs throughout Hawke's Bay were on the mounds last Saturday. Rifle shootmg inay, of course, be taken as a cleau kind of sport, but that is not the primary object of it, ii; is essentially a mealis of defeuce, and there is 110 doubt that the Government has viewed it m the same light, heuce the genetoiis support accofded to rifle shooting in these hard times, when training is being suspended and scrapped tlirougliofft the Dominion. It is to be haped that tlie No More War Dlovement will leave us alone, and not try to take away our rifles unrler pretence of fostering tlie war spint iil young children who li^ppen to see us going to and from the rifle rabge with our "weopons" on our baeks. From the point of view if weapons they are certainly lnore effective than the old ohsolete guns in Clive Square. NAPIER CLUB Nineteen members of the Napier Defence Rifle Club mustered 011 the Tutaekuri Ralige last Saturday to fire the second series of a shoot toi4 the Pedersen Tropliy. ' Some excellent shooting was done, and resulted in three members beilig very close at the finish of this second shoot. Deputv Pi'esident Profitt is on top with a score of 185, out df a possible of 200. His 46 at botli ranges 011 Saturday bears out tlie writer's prophecy that he was back to form. It is hoped that Len, wlio is oue of the club's best sports, will now see his way clear to attend the Wanganui and Trentham meetings. With his rifle now m good nick, and himself back to fonn, a score such as he obtained on tlie Tutaekuri range on SaturJay would have been higher 011 any other range, and would have been 011 top, or very near the top, of tlie list at any ckampionship iiieetiug. CongratulatioiiB to Len. There is nobody more pleased than tlie winter to see him in his correct plaee, "on seratch," in the club. Anotlier who shot excep^ionally well on Saturday, and who has _ not been doing his liest latelv, is Rifleman L. Greenfield. His 44 and 46 at 500 and 800 yards respectiveJy, came l'rom good shooting, especially his 46 at 600. He will be well advised to now leave liis rifle as it is, and if he gets another had shoot, doil't blaine the rifle, it's bedded all right, so, leave well enougli alonci. President Nicholson and L. E. Brathwaite also shot well, as did J. W. Olp- , hert, J. H. Mausneeu, and F. Jane. Several good scores were made by sonie members at the 500 yards only to be discounted by a poor score at thn longer range, notably Crabtree and Hardy-Gibson who botli crashed at 600. Rifleman O. E. Maney got a good shoot at 500 and then he slipped right off tlie list, as did F. J. Fraser for the second time in succession. Albert Nielson is sliowing only moderate lonn this seasou. He has not made one really good score. His 43 at each range is far below his staudard of previous years. There must have been a misprint in tlie paper last Monday evening, or else a. clerieal error 011 the part of the secretary of the Napier Club, lor tlie name of Rifleman Jiin Hawkins did not appear 011 the list ot scores published. Sui'ely Jirn is not "slipping," after the long list of atteudaiices m the Napier Rifle Club. OKAWA CLUB There was agein a suiall atteildance of members of tlie Okawa Club on tlie range at Roy's Hill last Saturday, to liro the second round lor the President's Tropliy. The ranges were 300 and 5(X) yards, 10 shots at each lange. Some very poor shooting was experienced, in fact, it is a long time since such poor scores were obtained at the 300 yards. Certainly the light was not good. Shifting light and dull patches may have accounted tor some of the puor scores, but 111 the opuiion of the writer tlie ammunition is a bigger factor than manv marksinen think in the way of scoring. It' is well known that olten a certain hatcli of ammunition will prove worse than its iiredecessor, or one will sometimes btvike a batch of exceptional merit. President Green and Rifleman White wero again to tlie iore and got -12 and

45 points respectively at tlie 300 %nd 500 ranges, tvhile Sergeant Burton, after getting a very poor score at 3U0, came to light with 45 at 500 and thereby pulled tlie bad shoot out of the fire. S.S.M. Kearney agaiu shot poorly ; liis 42 at eaeii range is nothing like his form of last year, « and it Would seem that the change of ranges was unwholesome m his particular case. Rifleman Frank Humphries again shot Avell and came out on top with 1ns handicap. His shooting at • 300 was really good under the conditions and colnpared well with tho scores of tlie rest of the club. Okawa mtends sendmg a teain to Wanganui to compete for the N, 1. Champion Shield, but they will have to impro-ve a whole hatful if they are to be successtul 111 that venture. Okawa seems to be ioliowmg in the iead of Waipukurau 111 the lhatter of tropkies, and also in the •matter of at'tendances. For the strength of these two clubs they get a poor attendauce ou the ralige. In botli cases they paraded a large iiUmber to fire the aunual rifle course, and the writer asked that tliese young fellows now coiitinue with the shooting and not go away aiid play some otlier game for the rest of the season. In the case of Napier and Taradale clubs, this advise luis been taken, and botli tliese clubs and their members are to he congl'atulated on the way their members are turning up to- shoot, but the same cannot he said of Waipukurau and Okawa, botli of whom have stronger melnbersliip than either Taradale or Napier. The writer asks why? Is the ammunition too dear at sixpence a packet? I3 it tliat these young chaps wlio liail from further soutli have not the keenness of those who breathe ihe sea air of the Paeifie? TARADALE CLUB * ' Sixteen members of te Taradale Club musterfed 011 tlie Dolbel Range on .Saturday last te fire tlie final shoot for the McDonald Trophy. Tlie wiilner turned out to be Rifienian L. H. Scott-, who, although his lelig handieafi was consiclerably rednced in the last shoot, had stifficieUt in hand to win. Congratulations to Scott ! His 41 at 600 was a good effort, and the writer predicts that it will not be ldng hefore he has his handicap further leduced, and this should not disniay him, as he is sliowing great promise for a comparatively young shot. Rifleman Carl Kreig is again shooting with the Taradale Club and ko occnpies top of the list in last Saturday' s shoot.. He vwas rathqr luckv to get away with a five liaildiacp. Perhaps the handicapper has forgotten how this "old hand" shot last year. If my niemory serves me right, he was a scratch ma'n in tlie club. Carl is a good shot, ^md if he decides to stick to it he will soon be amongst the "heacls," but not unlesi he decides to attend all shooting at Inme alid go to meetings away from liome. Trentham and Wanganui are ti e plaees to try oneself out, and tlie experience gained at these meetings is profitable even if oiie does lose his entrance fee and gets very little "back. This is the experience of the writer, however, and it applies in most cases. Some time the cliickens come liome io roost, and the entrance fees come back with company. Rifleman T. J. Jarvis came to light with a really good score at tlie 600 yards. He is a good shot, and, 'like liis brcther Mark, lias not been hav ing the best of times with his rifle of late. It is to be hoped tliat tlie tide has. turned and he can-go oU witli it . . Taking it all round, tlie shooting rt tlie Taradale Club was lliore 011 tlie lmes of tliat of Okawa last Saturday. It would appear, that Napier, who started shooting a few wecks he+ore the otlier clubs, got into form ir clue course. SOUTHERN H.B. CLUBS '■ O11 the Mt. Vernon range 011 Saturday, Ihe Waipukurau Defelice Club firod off ior tlie second roinid of ~lio Cliandler Rose Boul, conditions l-ing 15 sliots at 390 Vards. The weather conditions were fine. hut a tricky wiml prevailed and caused a deal of iroubie to some niarksmeii. Rifleman L. -I Taylor put on a very good score of 68 out of a possible 15. wlsilst Rifleman Fryer came -.econd with a score of 66. Rifleman W'ood ward, E. Haldane, and Deputv-i re.ndont Biyce, each with 66 off the rifle. made very good scores. The reinamiiur memhers were onl.v nioderate. Two teams l'rom Dannevirke Rifle Club visited the Waipukurau Rifle Cl'ib during the week- end and iired a friemliv team shoot with members of timi club. The ranges were the usual 300, 300 and 600 yards, witli seven shots t-t each vauge. Some very fair shooting was registered and tlie teams were very even. Dannevirke A team heating the Waipukurau A hv oue point, ile scores being-. Dannevirke (five men) 129, Waipukurau (five) 428, a icrv close finish. The liighest score r was Rifleman ?- Berry, of Dannevirke, whose 93 aggrenate over tl>e three ranges was '- ' 10 iiest score (counting back) from L. . Bishop (Waipukurau) 93, and R. ^Ic Learv ( Dannevirke) 93. Tlie most nolable featuro of D is shooting was ihe excellent results obtained at the 300 yards, there being two scores of 33, two of 32, and quit" a few 31's and 30's was real good shooting at this range. It is mooted that Waipukurau wUi also have a team at Wanganui. It is hojied that this will eventuate, as Wanganui are thorough sports in putting'on sucli a good prize-list, guaranteod also, at this stage of finatici-1 un rest. On Sunday week a team from Okawa (if not two teams) will journey to Waipiikuriu to shoot against Oiat cluh in a friendly matcli of the description fired last week end. These slioots do mucli to promote the good-i'elloAvship between clubs, ,.nd do much towards promotiiig rifleshooting generally. U is hoped that these team matches will become more popular even than they are at present.

Onlf rjennisitcs. RIpp] nnrl hickorv shafied Clubs. Para foot Golf 81iops. Bulls, Teps. Cl"b SPnarnfnrs, Garlrlip Bags, etc., at J. R, Ross & Co/s, Napier.