RACING CLUBS AND MR H. FRIEDLANDER.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXV, Issue 9155, 1 June 1915, Page 2

RACING CLUBS AND MR H. FRIEDLANDER.

To the Emron " Guardian."

Sir, —As I have not lived in any country over which the British "Flag does not My, I do not, of my own knowledge, know how individuals born under the Union Jack are treated in those particular countries, but it has hitherto been my proud boast that a law-abiding individual had nothing to fear in a iiritish community. 1 am disillusioned! Mr Hugo Friedlander is absent from Ashburton, and he has been attacked in his absence, in a manlier that besmirches the honour of this corner of the Empire. British freedom 1 British fair playl Right glad am I that the ignominious action of the Ashburton Racing Club is only a parody of those attributes of the nation's life which have elevated land ennobled the Empire in the estimation of the nations of the civilised world. It will be a sad day for us when the action of these sporting gentlemen represents the spirit which animates the breast. of . every true Britisher. Whatever may have been tho faults of, Mr Hugo Friedlander (I expect he has some or he would not be .human),: surely the gentlemen of the Racing Club, might have given Mr Friedlander an opportunity of being heard iii his: defence. , Sir, I am ashamed of the un-British manner in which these patriotic exponents of clean sport have acted. The Geraldine Racing Club apparently condemned the action of the so-called British sports, and right glad am I that the Geraldine people gave them the rebuke they .so rightly deserved. I ftm quite at a loss to account for the action of the gentlemen of the Racing Clnb Committee. What can it bo? It it been use, after the most bitter election within my memory, Mr Hugo Friedlnndw (to the intense disgust of one of the gentlemen who infused racial hatred into the election) was preferred by the Borough and County electors to Mr IT. P. Niooll ? Or is it because the celebrated challenge has got on the nerves of some of these sporting individuals? Whatever could be said of oth^r individuals, I do not think Mr H. F. Nicoll has been embittered by his defeat by Mr Friedlander for pride of place in the Harbour Board election, or in the election of a representative on the Racing Conference. I hope, and feel sure, he is much too fine a man to be so paltry. Sir, whatever may be' the reason, it is a crying shame that a. man who has spent a lifetime in this community, who has given generously of his time and ability in every public cause, who has given freely of his money for every worthy object, should be the subject of so mean an attack being made in his absence.

Germans —by all moans let us have 'no time whatever for German methods lof warfare; let us adopt every means I in our power to pz-osecuto the war with the utmost rigour to an early end; let those of the community who ore prej vented from enlisting give of their money and make it easy by other means for others to go and take their places; let us have no time whatever for those anti-militarist flag-wavers who, by being shirkers, are now quali- | fying for the white feather; but, above all, let \is be clean and above-board — careful not to act in a manner savouring of the notions of the German soldiers whom we now condemn. CITIZEN.