Here and There Notes
- With Stevenson, Falkiner, Harverson, Ferraro, and
McConachy all playing there, South Africa has had
good billiard times of late.
- As there are now 24 clubs in the Bath Billiards
League, which is divided into three divisions, the season
will commence on September 13.
- The Chairman of the Billiards Association is Mr. Hall-Say. It is not Mr. Hall-Saye, as some papers
gave it, nor Mr. Hall-Jay, as others have insisted upon.
- Inman played an amateur (Mr. J. Bailey, ex-Cornish
champion) at Mount's Bay Club, Penzance, whilst on
holiday, and, giving 400 in 800, won by 134.
- At the London Press Club the Douglas Straight
Billiard Challenge Cup was won by Mr. F. G. Lavers
(Daily Telegraph), who beat Mr. A. J. Kempley (Amalgamated Press), who received 15, by 250 to 187.
- It is worth recalling that it was Frank Ferraro, by
whom Stevenson was beaten on points in South Africa in
June, that Stevenson defeated in the South Africa professional championship nearly thirty years ago.
- Clark McConachy, the New Zealand billiard champion,
who will arrive in England shortly, has made a break
of 1,080, and holds the Indian record of 870. He plays
the red ball game well, but is more varied in his methods
than George Gray, using the top pocket as often as the
middle ones.
- T. Newman, the professional billiards champion, has
won his first bowling prize, by defeating C. R. Clemoes
(rec. 3) in the final of the Crouch Hill B.C. Novice
Handicap. Newman was on scratch, and the score was
20-18 against him. A successful drive by Newman,
which took the jack to the string, and a second shot
drawn, made the score 20 all, and at the next end
Newman drew two and won.
- The new billiard hall in Hull, known as
the "Pavilion," is now opened. Sixteen full-size
regulation tables have been fixed, fourteen in the
main hall and two in private rooms. The tables and hall
fittings have been manufactured at the Burnley
Billiard Works, Burnley, the proprietors of which are
the owners of billiard halls in different parts of the
country.
- "We shall esteem it a privilege to supply the materials
to repair the billiard table at the British Club at Ypres,"
Mr. J. R. Abbott, director of Messrs. Burroughes &
Watts, writes to The Evening News. They are willing
also to pay transport costs. Mrs. M. C. Russell, of
Ealing, who has recently visited Ypres, has written to
The Evening News concerning the men's club and its
worn-out billiard table, which is used by the men who
look after the British war graves in Flanders.
- Miss Mary Fraser, the lady journalist who wrote the
Forum Club playlet "The Prize Story," is said to be a
clever billiard player.
- When Inman refused to defend his championship title
in 1920, as Smith did this year, history was only repeating itself, for the late Charles Dawson did the same
In 1900, and Stevenson then became champion by default.
- Mr. W. T. Rainbow, billiard-table manufacturer, of
15, New Bridge Street, Newcastle-on-Tyne, is to be
nominated for the next vacancy in the representation
of Heaton Ward in Newcastle City Council. Mr. Rainbow has resided in the ward for thirty years.
- The remains of the late Charles Dawson were interred at
the Almondbury Cemetery, Huddersfield, after a service
at the Almondbury Wesleyan Church. Mrs. Dawson
and four daughters were amongst the mourners. Amongst
the wreaths was one from the Billiard Committee of the
Huddersfield Liberal Club.
- On the form of last season there would not seem to be
much doubt that Arthur Peall is more likely than any
other of the second-grade professionals to be the representative of that class in the main professional championship. Nor will it be an altogether novel experience
for him, for it is now several years since he qualified in
a similar way for the senior professional tournament.
- The late Harry Hawker, the famous airman, lived in
the house at Surbiton that was built by the late Charles
Dawson, the ex-champion billiard professional, who,
after his professional retirement, spent much time in
attending to his garden there. Between Dawson and
Hawker the occupier of the house was E. Wheatley,
the jockey, so that its sporting associations were well
maintained!
- "Last night I saw a player of twenty years standing
give an opening miss in baulk, when his ball ran into
the corner pocket. When I asked him how much side
he had put on, he replied, 'Oh, I don't know. I suppose I miscalculated the strength.' In reality, he had
miscalculated the amount of side. On the other hand,
I knew a young man who, a week after he had been
shown how to use side, could confidently expect to
hit the side cushion at any point required."#151;A. D. Macmillan, in The Badminton Magazine.
- At the conclusion of his match at Johannesburg
against Ferraro, who (receiving 2,000 in 16,000) won by
2,232, Stevenson congratulated his opponent on playing
an excellent game of billiards, and expressed the hope
that he would meet Mr. Ferraro again before he left the
country, on the same terms. He also eulogized the
enterprise of Messrs. Morris and Soutter in procuring
the services of professional players, and concluded his
remarks with thanking Mr. Malraison, the popular
referee, for his services, and congratulating him on his
77th birthday.
- The coming season should settle once and for all the
supremacy amongst the trioNewman, Smith, and
Inman. There may be a dark horse to add in
McConachy, and Falkiner, his penchant for close play
notwithstanding, is not to be left out of the account.
- From Mr. C. Roberts, "Ivyside," Addington Grove,
Sydenham, S.E.26, we have received copies
of "Roberts's Billiards for Amateurs" (2s. net),
written by himself, and "How to Make a Hundred
Break" (2s. net), by his late brother, John Roberts, and
which seems likely shortly to be out of print. Both are
handy and informative volumes.
- In the course of Stevenson's River Diggings journeyings he met a number of South African leading amateurs,
and usually conceded about half the game. Playing Mr. N. M. Erasmus at Windsorton, and conceding 300 in
800, he made his 800 (including an unfinished 247) while
Mr. Erasmus was scoring 261, although the latter made
breaks of 50 and 49.
- Messrs. Burroughes & Watts, Ltd., have appointed
J. P. Mannock as the match manager of Burroughes
Hall, St. James's Street, Piccadilly. No better selection
could have been made. A man of forceful, whilst genial,
character, a good organizer, and a past master in all that
pertains to the game, alike in its technical and playing
aspects, J. P. Mannock may be counted to gather
around him all that is best and most representative in
billiards, alike from the professional, amateur, and match-frequenters' standpoints.
- Frank Farraro wrote, in connexion with his challenge
to McConachy, that he was still prepared to concede him
1,000 start in 16,000 up for any sum up to £200 aside.
Ferraro, as challenger, laid down the definite condition
that the match must be played at Messrs. Morris and
Soutter's match room.
- Falkiner is back. In his last big match in South
Africa he defeated Stevenson in a week's game in Cape
Town by 2,157 points (including two breaks of 419 and
417) in a level game of 9,000. Stevenson included in his
last four hands breaks of 180, 135, and 103. It will be
remembered that Falkiner also defeated Stevenson in the
last two professional championships at home.
- Opinion seems to be divided in Australia as to whether
Fred Lindrum or his younger brother Walter, who has
beaten him on recent occasions, is now the better player.
Fred Lindrum says that, given championship conditions,
on a table strange to both, with a new set of balls, and
in a neutral room, he is confident that there would be
no alteration in the holding of the championship.
- A billiard table temporarily loaned to the Dollis Hill
Hospital for wounded soldiers, being required for the hall
that had been in course of erection for it, Mr. Harry
Young, whose great work for blinded soldiers finds its
overflow in other directions, quickly raised the sum
necessary to provide the Dollis Hill Hospital patients
with another, which will be specially inaugurated on
September 12. Messrs. Thurston & Co., Ltd., have
kindly supplied a first-class table at cost price.