The fourth successive year with a total score of 901. Colony also entered that year, for the first time, a team of ten men to shoot in the Imperial Challenge Match, and they scored 943, taking fifth place in the competition.
871
There must have been a falling off in marksmanship in 1902, for we find that Hongkong came third in the Interport, with a score of 875, and could only put up 825 in the Imperial Challenge Match. In fact, the 1903 report, commenting on the previous twelvemonth, states that "it is to be noted with regret that the membership has somewhat declined," and the weekly competitions were not being so well attended as in previous years.
This prepares us for the following statement in the report on the year 1903.- "The interest taken in rifle shooting in the Colony seems steadily on the decline." Membership fell off, and attendance at contests was very small throughout the year. Mr. G.P. Lammert again carried off the Championship, with an aggregate of 301 out of a possible 330.
We also find that the Association's range, which was in the present King's Park area, was threatened by the formation of the park. The report (dated February, 1904) notes.- "Nothing definite is yet known as to the prospective loss of our present range owing to the King's Park at Kowloon, and the time does not yet seem to have come for the amalgamation with the Army Rifle Association...... Meantime it is a question whether, without a renewal of interest, the Association can continue to exist." Ominous words, to be justified not long afterwards, for in 1905 the Association went out of existence, and its place was taken by the newly-formed Hongkong Volunteer Rifle Club,
In this Rifle Club's report for the year 1906, we find that the range now being used was the one at Tai Hang. The Club commenced with a membership of 100, but the report mentions that some of these had since left the Colony, and "this is not a very large number out of the whole strength of the Corps, and it is a matter for regret that more Volunteers do not join." The following year, 1907, the membership considerably fell off, and the annual report comments that it had become a question whether the continued existence of the H.K. Volunteer Rifle Club served any useful purpose. No prize meeting was held during the year, and the weekly competitions were allowed to lapse. That evidently spelt the doom of the Club, which closed down in November 1908.
Two years later, an effort to revive interest in rifle shooting resulted in the formation of the Hongkong Rifle League, which at the outset received a certain amount of Service support. It seems to have lasted from 1910 to 1911, and to have lapsed in 1912, reviving in 1913. Then came the Great War, with a definite upset, probably through most of the supporters being ordered away or mobilised, and the League went temporarily out of existence in 1914.
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3.
The
fourth successive year with a total score of 901. Colony also entered that year, for the first time, a team of ten men to shoot in the Imperial Challenge Match,
and they scored 943, taking fifth place in the competition.
871
There must have been a falling off in marksmanship in 1902, for we find that Hongkong came third in the Interport, with a score of 875, and could only put up 825 in the Imperial Challenge Match. In fact, the 1903 report, comment- ing on the previous twelvemonth, states that "it is to be noted with regret that the membership has somewhat declined," and the weekly competitions were not being so well attended es in previous years.
This prepares us for the following statement in the report on the year 1903.- "The interest taken in rifle shooting in the Colony seems steadily on the decline." Membership fell off, and attendance at contests was very small throughout the year. Mr. G.P. Lammert again carried off the Championship, with an aggregate of 301 out of a possible 330.
We also find that the Association's range, which was in the present King's Park area, was threatened by the formation of the perk. The report (dated February, 1904) notes.- "Nothing definite is yet known as to the prospective loss of our present range owing to the King's Park at Kowloon, and the time does not yet seem to have come for the amelgemation with the Army Rifle Association...... Meantime it is a question whether, without a renewal of interest, the Association can continue to exist." Ominous words, to be justified not long afterwards, for in 1905 the Association went out of existence, and its place was taken by the newly-formed Hongkong Volunteer Rifle Club,
In this Rifle Club's report for the year 1906, we find that the range now being used was the one at Tai Hang. The Club commenced with a membership of 100, but the report mentions that some of these hed since left the Colony, and "this is not a very large number out of the whole strength of the Corps, and it is a matter for regret that more Volunteers do not join." The following year, 1907, the member ship age in considerably fell off, and the annual report comments that it had become a question whether the continued existence of the E.K. Volunteer Rifle Club served any useful purpose. No prize meeting was held during the year, and the weekly spoon competitions were allowed to lapse. That evidently spelt the doom of the Club, which closed down in No vember 1908.
Two years later, an effort to revive interest in rifle shooting resulted in the formation of the Hongkong Rifle League, which at the outset received a certain amount of Service support. It seems to have lasted from 1910 to 1911, and to have lapsed in 1912, reviving in 1913. Then came the Great War, with a definite upset, probably through most of the supporters being ordered away or mobilised, and the League went temporarily out of existence in 1914.
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