Here and There Notes
Very juvenile billiard players at Newcastle were Willie
Sanders, of that city, and Lloyd Barlow, of Congleton.
Lawrence is, of course, professional Midlands billiards
champion, not "amateur," as printed by a slip last
month.
In the early days of the Rand, Stevenson, who is
again visiting South Africa, was a marker at Heath's
Hotel and at the Rand Club.
In billiard halls in Sheffield the hours of play may
be shortened by the authorities. The present hours
are from 10.30 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Both Inman and Mr. J. R. Hooper, the one in
Leeds and the other in London, committed the oversight of giving two successive misses.
Licences for new billiard halls are being granted in
various parts of the country. There was surely never
such a vogue for the game as exists at present.
Harverson, who seems to have settled down in South
Africa (where he may presently meet Stevenson and
Falkiner) has discovered, in Griqualand West, an
amateur, named Erasmus, of whose play he entertains
a high opinion.
An excellent custom is arising amongst professionals
in matches. When one of the pair complains of a
ball the other offers to take it over. Thus Stevenson
with Falkiner in London and Smith with Inman in Leeds.
No less a sum than £40,000 was raised through
billiards last year for the Blinded Soldiers and Sailors
of St. Dunstan's, and particulars of this year's effort
may be had of the hon. secretary, Mr. Harry Young,
306, Regent Street, London, W.1.
"If I were asked to say what rule could be altered
with advantage I should reply: Limit the red ball to
25 consecutive losing hazards in the same way as the
cannon is limited to 25 shots consecutively. Otherwise, let the game alone."—W. Smith.
The outstanding feature of the Stock Exchange
handicap during the month was the defeat, on March 7,
of Mr. Percy Wood by Mr. R. J. Bullett, who, although
owing only 120 against 300 owed by Mr. Wood, actually scored more points.
Inman has generously undertaken to raise enough
money to provide a workshop in London, which will
accommodate 100 disabled soldiers who will be taught
suitable trades. The cost will be about £5,000, and
he has already raised half this amount.
In a spirit rather of complacency than of anger a
shareholder at the annual meeting of the Temperance Billiard Halls, Ltd., in Manchester, said that at
the hall in Harpurhey he had to wait from six o'clock
until nine o'clock several times during the last month
before he got a game.
A relay of members of the Cardiff Business Club
played 1,500 up on March 4 against T. Carpenter,
Welsh champion.
Tothill is willing to test (at £100 a side), with A. F.
Peall, Lawrence, Aiken, and Raynor, who is the best
second-class billiard player.
"Reece excels at swimming and has the arm and
shoulder muscularity of a blacksmith, yet his touch
is light as gossamer."—Daily News.
The third of the Smith v. Inman matches is advertised as "the greatest match ever staged in Manchester." The scene of the game is the Orme Hall.
The proceeds from the recent Bury (Lancs.)
Amateur Charity Billiards Tournament amount to just
over £200, as compared with £160 raised by last year's
competition.
Messrs. S. H. Fry and J. R. Hooper had their last
friendly 500 up, before Mr. Hooper's departure, at the
Victoria Club, on what is affirmed by some to be the
finest match table in the world.
In The Evening News Abe Mitchell has propounded
the somewhat startling theory that in golf the "swing"
is not so much needed in driving as the "knock." This
will be a little disconcerting to billiard players as well.
William Hoppe, the American champion billiard
player, has withdrawn his forfeit for a match against
E. Horemans, the European baulk-line champion, owing
to difficulties in arranging terms.
Reece is in favour of a standardized cloth. Everything on or about the table should, of course, be
standardized as far as possible, otherwise the game can
never be an entirely exact art or science.
There is a record entry for the Midland Amateur
Billiards Championship at Birmingham.—For the
Welsh amateur championship at Cardiff there are ten
entries. The present amateur champion is Mr. J.
Cable (Abertillery). Amateur championship contests
are in progress in Edinburgh, Hull, Scarborough, Hove,
and many other places.
"Kester," in The Yorkshire Post, wrote brightly
about the Smith v. Inman match. Here are some of
his sentences:—"For Inman the table must not only
be just so and the cloth like the finest satin, but the
balls must run truer than the very truth." "The
use of the long rest by Smith was followed by an
unsought rest by Inman."
Through the medium of Mr. Hall-Say, the
newly-elected Chairman of the Billiards Association
and Control Council, at a dinner at the Cafe Royal,
on March 3, Mr. J. R. Hooper, the Australian amateur
billiards champion and good sportsman generally,
received a gold presentation watch. Mr. Hooper left
for Paris en route for home on the following Sunday.