The Sun.
London, England, 1865-07-17 00:00:00

The Wimbledon Meeting.

One week's experience at Wimbledon justifies the
belief that, in spite of the awkward concurrence of
the general election, this will prove the most suc-
cessful meeting of the National Rifle Association
which has yet been-held. The mere sightseers, it is
true, have scarcely flocked to the Common in such
numbers, as on previous occasions, a result attribut-
able in part, no doubt, to the circumstance that there
can be this season no great Lords and Commons'
match, and that even if the newly returned members
of the Lower House could get together an Eleven in
the coming week the fashionable world has fled from
town and would not be there to see it. The marks-
men, however, the proper clients and supporters of
the Association, have more than supplied any short-
comings on the part of the public by the eagerness
with which they have entered for all the good things
in the gift of the Council, and have employed
theii,Spare-time in Pool. shooting, twenty-five per
cent. of the amount contributed at these latter
ranges going in every case towards the expenses of
management. At this moment, exclusive of Pool
tickets, sighting shots, entries for cartons, and all
that constitutes the fringe of rifle-shooting finance,
the mere entries for the great competitions, such as
the Queen's Prize and Alexandra, bid fair to double
the total amount of tickets issued at the meeting,
of 1864. With all these additions to the magni-
tude of the gathering the facilities for conducting
business are on the increase. The great difficulty
of consulting the convenience of men who wish to be
at Wimbledon and in the polling booth at one and
the same moment of course exists, and its effects,
visible at the door of Captain Page's marquee, have
been already described. Another stream, smaller
and much more patient, flows through the mar-
quee of the secretary, where the certificates entitling
volunteers to the money value of the prizes they have
won are distributed, and the number of prizes is so in-
finite that even this duty forms no inconsiderable
addition to the other business pressing upon Captain
Mildmay, and transacted by him with as much ease
and courtesy as if he were writing complimentary
letters. But apart from these marquees of work,
and one or two other tents where statisticians hide
themselves and pore till lamplight over piles of re-
gisters, kept, for some inscrutable reason, with blue
pencil on pink sheets of paper, and apart also from
that other cave of canvas, where the dread tribunal
of " the Council" waits with umpire and attendant
Staff to pronouns° judgment on any cases that may
be submitted, it really seems as if the meeting ma -
naged itself very successfully. The great art of let-
ting things alone becomes additionally important
when all concerned have imbibed notions of disci-
pline and come to the ground prepared to conform
in every manner to authority, provided only that it
be legitimate. Men have gained confidence in the
arrangements at Wimbledon ; or, if new to the
place themselves, they generally come with com-
rades whose favourable report first induced them to
entertain the idea, and so they are prepared, almost
without knowing it, to feel at home. The Associa-
tion was fortunate enough to establish or obtain the
assistance of an admiral Staff at the outset, and that
Staff it has since preserved intact. As on board a
man-of-war every one knows his own rope, so here
each has his department, and matters proceed so
smoothly that a difficulty has scarcely time to arise
before it is mastered. A thorough hitch would be
a new sensation.

The principal competitions on Saturday were
those for the Challenge Vase, value 550 guineas,
contributed in specie by Volunteers in China, and
for the London and South Western Railway Prize
of £5O, to which the Association adds £25, given
for the best volley firing. Several designs for the
China vase have been submitted, and the selection
is still under the consideration of a committee. The
conditions of the match having been left to the de-
termination of the Council, great curiosity was natu-
rally felt as to the ultimate destination of so valu-
able apiece of plate. The decision arrived at was
that it should be placed in the hands of the Lord-
Lieutenant of the winning county from year to year,
and that £lOO should be annually divided among
the more successful of the competing squads, con-
sisting of 10 men drawn from every county desir-
ous of entering.
The following vre the official scores of the diffe-
rent contests :

FIRST STAGE, ALEXANDRA.
200 Yards Winners.
Sergeant Walker, London Rifle Brigade 18 £2s
Sergeant Deane, London Rifle Brigade 18 20
Sergeant J. Butler, Ist Wilts 181 520
Private Ward, 6th East York ... \.. 18 "f "10
Private Sharman, 4th West York ... 17

Sergeant Allen, 35th Somerset... 17
Private Barrett, 2d Northumberland 17

Sergt. Hon. R. Bouverie, Camb. Univ. 17
Ensign M. Rimington, s►th Cambridge... 17
Sergeant Barker, 3d Leicester ... ... 17
Lieut. Clark, 4th Notts ... ... ... 17
Private Burt, sth Isle of Wight ... 17
Colour-Sergeant Clews, 3d Renfrew ... 17
Private Atfield, 7th Sussex ... ... 17
Sergeant Hony, Ist Oxford University 17
Captain Miller, 6th Renfrew ... ... 17
. __

Private Allcock, Ist Warwick ... 17

Privato E. Ross, London Scottish ... 17

Corporal Lea, 3d Salop ... ... ... 17
Sergeant Barry, Ist Lancashire ... 17
Private Other, 12th North York ... 17
Private Whincap, 17th West York ... 17
Sergeant Toogood, 25th Devon ... 17
Sergeant Dodd, 2d Hereford ... ... 17 5
Corporal Forrest, 2d Roxburgh .. 17 ties. 5
Corporal-Sergt. Paterson, let Berwick 17 3
Corporal Peaman, 3d Durham ... .., 17
Sergeant Smith, West York ... ... 16
Sergeant Holmes, Ist Manchester ... 16
Corporal Putt, 10th Herts ... ... 16
Private Syer, London Rifle Brigade ... 16
Private Hoddinott, 25th Somerset ... 16
Sergeant M'Cullock, 7th Ayr ... ... 16
Sergeant Dunn, London Rifle Brigade... 16
Private Fowkes, Ist Manchester ... 16
Ensign Lockhart, 7th Ayr ... .., 16
Private Miln, Perth ... ... "' 16
Corporal Newton, Bth Leicester ... 16 . 3
Lieut. Cunningham, 18th Middlesex ... 16
Capt. Mulliner, Ist Lancashire Engineers 16
Sergeant Muatt, 3d Ayr _ ... ... 16
Private Forest, 26th Kent ... ... 16
Corporal Arrowsmith, Bristol Rifles ... 16
Private 0. li'llardy, 6th Inverness ... 16
Captain Morris, 9th Middlesex ... 16
Sergeant Stark, Bristol Rifles ... ... 16
Private Purcher 10th Gloucester ... 16
Lieut. Crockford, 4th Flint ... ... 16
Sergeant Goodwin, 12th Derby ... 16
Private Curtis, Ist Surrey ...
... 16
Private Soucham, Queen's ... ... 16
Corporal Fraser, 7th Inverness ... 16

Sergeant Blenkhorn, West York 16
Private Dawson, 4th West York ... 16
Corporal Taylor, 19th North York ... 16
Capt. Smith, Edinburgh Rifle Brigade 16
Colour-Sergeant Yates, 2d Derby 16
Corporal Leab, 19th Cheshire ... 16
Lord Glentworth, Ist Gloeester Artillery 16

2
~. 2
2
~. 2
~. 2
2
.. 2

Colour-Sergt. Smith,2d Tower Hamlets 16
Private Grace, 3d Portsmouth 16
Corporal Harmos, 2d Sussex 16
Sergeant Ainsley, 21st Devon 16
Private Morgan, Ist Leicester ... 16
Lieutenant M'Kenzie, 37th Middlesex 16
Lieutenant Hall, 12th Kent 16
Colour-Sergeant Hurst, 2d Flint ... 16
Private Anderson, 2d Devon ... 16
Sergeant Plenderleish, Ist Peebles 16

... 2
... 2
~. 2
- 2
2
... 2
~. 2
... 2
... 2

Colour-Sergeant Dove, 6st North York 16
Corporal Waco, Cambridge University 16
Private C. B. Dyer, Cam. University 16

ties for
two prizes
of 41 each.

Private E. LawCenCe, 10th Gloucester 16
Colour-Sergeant Stuckey, L. R. Brigade 16,