TURF INFLUENCE.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume 1, Issue 7, 13 February 1914, Page 2

TURF INFLUENCE.

BENEFITS OF THE NATIONAL PASTIME. In Australia, as in New Zealand, the anti-racing portion, of the community, small though it is, keeps on agitating for the abolition of the national pastime. Dealing with- the subject, that versatile writer "Early Bird" in the Sydney Sun," says:— "We are , accustomed to hear big race meetings described in certain quarters as 'carnivals of yice, '"and.'orgies of illicit speculation,' but when criticism is based on ignorance, it is bereft of sting. This subject occurs to me ■ now because during the recent campaign more than one allusion of a similar nature was made, to

S racing. ''Racing is not only a national pastime, but a national business, in whieh ? millions of money are involved, and . she prizes of ihat enterprise are ; gained. Let me confine my remarks to racecourse itself. It sets the stanat whieh our breeders must aim if • horse wealth is to be preserved, V." in doing so it affords enjoyment to _ ?}•, --millions of people, and a living to thouThe patrons of the turf may be 'Kg rirouglily divided iuto two classes, those paironise it mefely fcr enioymest, . - land those who regard it solely in the i. light of „ j o'which 1 eally keeps the game 'going, and IJfJiSj from that point of view, the more The .well-filled lawns of our racecourses supply work for thousands of dressmakers and tailors, and what if the wearer of a dainty costume does lose half-a-crown in a private sweep, her , investment has the virtue of stifling temporarily her envy of a superior cos-tume-worn by a rival society belle. It is not the question of dress with the -'city man, but of a day's enjoyment, that diverts his footsteps to Rand:vp<jk,£ and again, in his ease, even if loses; a pound or two it is worth it, because?; jthc recreation has ' revitalised a jaded( mind, and, made its" owner, better fitted;' i -to perform-Ms daily round. ,^hose^ who would suppress racing on the sctire .< of sport are descendants o£ those Pufitans who objected "to 'bear -.baiting, not be*, cause it hurt the fbear, but because itgave pleasure -to the qnlookers. '' livelihood in horse-racing, and who come in for the fiercest denunciation.

They are angels" when contrasted with the eolours. in which they are minted. ' Take a trainer, for example. . .he, is, &tj3rfSijr , kt*3f' success on >th£ , 'mn^be'a strictly sober njan| again, he jplist retire early at'night in order to the work of his charges at the dawn of day, and he must possess self-control, because discipline oyer both boys and horses is a necessary, element in his success. Such abstention is not always practised by those who loudly proclaim their own -virtues?, and there. i*s no mbre self-respecting. and healthy-minded set of men in the com- • munity than our who have a triple lesponsibility, vizi; to their pat- - rons, to their apprentices, and to the horses. The lives of the boys themselves also teach a salutary lesson. : Most of them come from country homes " * to entey a racing stable. The boy .soon • finds that he is the subject of jgrm discipline. That the boys are appreciative in most cases is certain, and with proper treatment they become very obedient; but, unfortunately, some of otir trainers do not take as much inter- . est hi them after forking hours as they miglij; do. One of our Randwick train- , ers makes it a rule, when indenturing a j lad, tfiat the boy must go to a night school, and, to his credit, he pays for the education out of his own pocket. 1 The result is that a number of other lads, recognising the advantages, gladly accompany them, and the good advice ' tendered by the master has been found to bear excellent fruit. Boys also must practise self-denial if they are to make - the best use of a training which is to open to them one of the most lucrative professions in the world, and if they do \ not they are quickly cast aside. The discipline the apprentices have to observe in Sydney has resulted in producing a number of remarkably wellbehaved boys, and it is very rarely that one of the hundreds of them gets into any trouble. . There is another important class of professional turf devotee, the bookmakers; It is not necessary for them to eschew the good things of life, and most of them can revei in a bottle of wine/ a good dinner, or a highlyflavoured cigar; but to succeed, a,man must keep his head and his good name. To keep one's head in places where wine sometimes runs freely necessitates self-control, and as a bookmaker's mere word is a bond for thousands his unsullied name is his greatest asset. Naturally there is another, but happily almost insignificant class, which includes the tale-teller, the welsher, and such excrescences on the game; but it must not be forgotten that the law courts, and the bankruptcy court in particular, often disclose transactions in our commercial life which would make some of the worst crooks on the racecourse turn gre<-n with envy. TEMPLAR.