The Hiogo News of the 4th inst. has the following article on the rifle shooting match between Kobe, Hongkong, and Shanghai, which took placed at the three ports simultaneously on the 20th May:—A curious mistake has been discovered in connection with the late Interport Rifle Match, which has the effect of taking away the honour and glory of victory from the Kobe team, however humiliating that fact may be. The honourable course of acknowledging the mistake has been adopted as soon as it was discovered, and though the mistake is an awkward one, it will be soon that there has been no lack of good faith, but only an inadvertence. The Shanghai Volun-toots will no doubt be agreeably surprised, when they find that after all they, are really victors in the last match, if not{also in the one which took place in October, 1879. The mistake is that the Kobe team were shooting at a different target from the Shanghai one, the centre and magpie circles being of larger diameter, although the bull's-eye was the same, viz, 8 inches. It is not yet clearly known whether the Commandant of the Shanghai Volunteers is not to blame as well as the Captain of the Kobe Regatta and Athletic Club, To explain the origin of the mistake, we must go back to the match in October, 1879. That match was a challenge by the Kobe Club, the Honorary Secretary sending the conditions, with measurements of the target, which were copied from a book of the Wimbledon targets as adopted at Creedmoor in 1875; the target being the "third class" one, used at all distances up to and including 300 yards, and the dimensions are as under Bull's eye, circular, 8 inches in diameter. Gentre ' y, 26 Inner " 6 5 Outer, square, 4 feet by'6 feet.
The Shanghai team were beaten then by 71, and there is a doubt here as to whether the target used by the Shanghai team was not different from the measurements then given. In the late match, Major Holliday sent the challenge to the Secretary of the Kobe Club, and in his communication said the match was to be on "exactly the same terms as the match shot in October last but ho also gave detailed measurements of the bull's-eye, centre and magpie circles. These details, however, were inadvertently overlooked, as the statement "exactly the same terms," led Mr, Sim, (who had entire charge of the affair on the part of the Kobe Club,) to suppose that there was no alteration in the target, and consequently the target used on the 20th May was exactly the same as used in October last year. The Secretary of the Kobe Club received by last mail from Major Holliday a letter giving the scores of the Shanghai team, accompanied by a diagram of the target used; and on looking at the latter Mr. Sim immediately discovered that it was different from the target he had described in the first match and which he had adhered to in the second. The Shanghai target has a bull's-eye 8 inches in diameter; the centre circle is 12 inches in diameter, or a band of 2 inches round the bull; and the magpie circle 2 feet in diameter, or G inches round the centre circle.
The Kobe target had an Sin. bull's eye; but the centre circle was 26 inches in diameter, or 9 inches round the bull's eye; and the magpie circle 46 inches in diameter, or 10 in, round the centre circle, The result of this, of course, was that some shots which were scored as centres should have been counted as magpies, and all the magpies should have been outers. The total scores were: Kobe, 642; Shanghai, 630; a majority of 12 for Kobe; but this di erepancy in the centre and magpie circles might mal difference of 40 or 50 points, the 28 magpies should have counted as outers—so that Shanghai had the best score by slong way. The ques: tion is whether the Shanghai team did not take the wrong target at the October match, and originate the mistake at that time; a8 in 1g the challenge for the late match, Major Holliday said " exactly the same terms" as in the former match, and then gave measurements which were different from the measurements given by Mr, Sim for the first match, but which difference unfortunately escaped the notice of Mr. Sim, who was all along under the impression that the: target was to be the same as that on which the October match was fired. The unfortunate mistake is very much regretted by the members of the Kobe team, who are willing to shoot over again, or to give the victory in the Jast match to Shanghai, and have another match,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.