with its various handicapping systems in favor of 
     
     straight shooting contests. The majority of members 
     
     had achieved a standard of shotgunning that allowed 
     
     them to be in on the prizes from time to time, but 
     
     four of the members were not up to the standard. 
     
     Their plight was discussed at length during a meeting 
     
     of members, called by Doctor Blanchard for quite a 
     
     different reason. Those in attendance generally 
     
     agreed that they did not want to get into another 
     
     intricate system of handicap, but did feel that all 
     
     members should have at least a potential opportunity 
     
     to win the Club's merchandise prizes and to partici- 
     
     pate in the popular weekly 25 cent pool. Following a 
     
     time of looking at alternatives, they agreed that 
     
     Francis Arnaud, George Peake, Francis Haszard and John 
     
     Richards would each have three targets placed after 
     
     their names in every competition. In other words, 
     
     they would be credited with a hit for the first three 
     
     targets they missed...the Club was back in the 
     
     handicap business again, not knowing whether or not 
     
     they had begun to create another monster. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The real reason that Ernest Blanchard had called 
     
     the meeting was to advise the membership that he had 
     
     been told there would be a serious shortage of 
     
     ammunition through the winter months, but no basic 
     
     reason had been given. With the Northumberland Strait 
     
     filled with ice, and ice-boat travel hazardous, it 
     
     had been the habit over the years for local hardware 
     
     outlets to stock an additional supply in the fall that 
     
     would see them through the winter. It was known that, 
     
     during the previous fall, there had been a number of 
     
     short shipments, and back orders of ammunition due to 
     
     the national demand, and that the normal stocks on 
     
     hand were used up in December competitions. This 
     
     year, for the first time, the new steel-hulled 
     
     steamer, Stanley, was placed in service, making winter 
     
     crossings between Pictou, Nova Scotia, and 
     
     Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island; and freight 
     
     coming out of Halifax, or Saint John, was arriving on 
     
     the Island within two weeks. Notwithstanding, the 
     
    
   
   
    
     ~—45-—