At the last meeting of the Council of the Billiards Control Club, hold at the club headquarters, Great Windmill House, Piccadilly, the following were present:—Messrs. W. Herbert Fowler (in the chair), Arnold H. Hall, F. C. Coxhead, Hamilton-Pritchard, J. D. Godfrey, Alfred J. Peters, A. Hatchard, Dr. Frank Smith, Sir John H. Dimsdale, and Geo. Herbert Nelson (secretary). The draw and dates for play in the inter-club competition, which is for the challenge cup at present held by the Junior Constitutional Club, resulted as follows:—
If more convenient, clubs may play off on prior dates to those named, on giving notice to the B.C.C. secretary Club secretaries are requested to communicate with their opponents to fix a time to commence play, and also to inform the B.C.C. secretary, so as to have the tables reserved. The Council have also elected all the members of the competing clubs honorary members of the Billiards Control Club during the run of the competition, and they are invited to be present to witness the games.
The Council also had under their consideration the advisability of equalizing the restrictions as to cannons and hazards, with a view to legislation for future years, and the result will be announced before the conditions governing next year's Professional Championship are issued.
The results in the first round of the B.C.C. Club championship, which has been running at the Billiards Control Club headquarters, were as follows:—
| W. Herbert Fowler
| 500 | J. H. Kino
| 340 | ||
| Alfred J. Peters
| 500 | A. Dingli
| 474 | ||
| Col. G. Ommanney
| 500 | DrC. S. Murray
| 395 | ||
| A. Sellar
| 500 | Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
| 347 | ||
| A. Hatchard
| 500 | R. du F. Bryans
| 324 | ||
| H. Crosland
| 500 | W. J. Gask
| 370 |
The best individual breaks have been:—Fowler. 31, 24, 22, 38, 41, 43, 21, and 22; Kino, 20, 24, and 34; Peters, 20, 26 (twice), 35, and 39; Dingli, 20, 23, 25, and 28; Col. Ommanney, 20, 22, 24, 27, 31, and 51; Dr. Murray, 21, 29, and 40; Sellar, 21, 28, 29, 33, 39, 33, 43, and 45; Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 20, 21, and 25; Hatchard, 62, 20, 36, 60, 29, and 21; Rev. Bryans, 40, 20, 24, and 33; Crosland, 37, 21. 21, 25, 34, 24, and 20; Gask, 21, 28, and 27.
The second round of the B.C.C. Championship resulted as follows:-
| A. W. Sellar
| 500 | Alfred J. Peters
| 234 | ||
| H. Crosland
| 500 | W. Herbert Fowler
| 494 | ||
| A. Hatchard
| 500 | W. Bessemer-Wright
| 312 | ||
| R. Hill New
| 500 | ColG. Ommanney
| 291 |
The best individual breaks were:—
Mr. Sellar, 22, 23, 24, 89, 36, 42 27, 22, 20, 26, 22: Mr. Peters, 28; Mr. Crosland, 57, 42. 31, 25, 27, 34, 45; Mr. Fowler, 34, 30, 52. 28, 22. 31, 24. 22, 41, 38, 44; Mr. Hatchard, 27, 34, 35, 23, 44, 47. 29; Mr. Wright, 28: Mr. Hill New, 53, 24, 23, 26, 47, 26, 20, 21, 26. 57, 30: Col. Ommanney, 33, 27, 43, 20.
In the semi-final heats two very interesting and close games were witnessed. In the first R. Hill New was opposed to A. W. Sellar. Each in turn took the lead, and upon the scores being called 363 to 352 in favour of Sellar, he ran to his points with a magnificent all-round break of 137 (unfinished).
The final scores were:—
| A. W. Sellar
| 500 | R. Hill New
| 352 |
The best individual breaks were: —Sellar: 22, 75, 42, 37, 24, 27, 22, 33, and 137 (unfinished); Hill New: 22, 20, 30, 43, 28, 30, 26, and 40.
In the other game A. Hatchard beat H. Crosland after a very close game by 30 points.
The final scores were:—
| A. Hatchard
| 500 | H. Crosland
| 470 |
The best breaks in this game were—
Hatchard 47, 21, 30, 20, 81, and 33; Crosland: 27, 23, 48, 63, 29, and 26.
In the match of 4,000 up between Mr. H. Virr and Mr. S. H. Fry, Mr. Virr won on February 25 by 4,000 to 3,771.