15.—If a ball is forced off the bed of the table and comes to rest on the rail, is the stroke regarded as equally foul with one that sends the ball on to the floor?
The cases are identical and the penalty is two if another ball has been struck, and three otherwise.
16.—There seems to be something wrong, or, at any rate, not clear, about your reply to Query No. 12. If "it is only when the cue ball is touching the red that the balls have to be spotted," what happens when the cue ball is touching the opponent's ball?
The word "red" should have been "object" and was inadvertently employed on account of the red ball being specifically referred to in the question.
17.—When I was playing a game of 250 up my opponent made two fouls, first by striking his own ball twice in making his stroke, secondly by moving his ball with his shirt sleeve. He then picked up his ball, replaced it, and made his stroke, finally reaching a break of 26.
He made 44 off the two fouls. As we had a marker, but no referee, and I was not in a position to see those fouls, was it the marker's duty to claim a foul in my favour, or was it not? I lost the game by 17.
All markers are in the position of referees where a referee has not been specially appointed. They may not (nor may referees) give advice or opinion before the stroke, but they may, and must, exact the penalties that are required under the rules for all foul strokes, and this should have been done in the case that you name.
18.—If a player in addressing his ball accidentally touches it, is it a foul? I am not asking anything about penalties for same, just the plain question, is it a foul?
If the cue ball, whether in hand or in play, is touched with the cue in addressing it, a stroke has been made, but it is only a foul stroke when, in playing from hand, it has not been propelled out of baulk (Rules 7 and 17).
19.—A marker has sole charge of two tables. Is he justified in calling a foul stroke made on the table that he is not marking for? The foul in question was having both feet off the floor.
We should say that in the case of so obvious and indefensible a foul the marker is justified in exacting the penalty. There is the further consideration that he is, in a sense, the representative of the proprietor of the tables, who has presumably installed them for the purpose of being played, and not sprawled, on.
20.—Will you kindly inform me whether 1,000 points has ever been made by a single player in one hour?
John Roberts scored 1,000 in 59½ minutes by all-round methods, and W. J. Peall in 44 minutes by means of the spot-stroke.
21.—Sometimes—although not often—we string for choice of ball and start at our Institute, and if I win I always choose the spot ball, although I hardly know why. Nor am I sure whether it is safer to open with the miss or to play off my opponent's. Perhaps you can help me?
There is both advantage and disadvantage in playing with the spot ball. If the diameter from spot to spot is placed horizontally when playing with ivories from the D, the ball runs more truly as it is revolving on a sort of axis formed by the pith of the tusk from which the ball has been shaped. On the other hand, the spot sometimes gives an opponent a precise spot to aim at.
As to the opening misses, if you are fairly sure of the cannon on to the spotted red, it is better to let your opponent start.