SHOULD RACING STOP?

Auckland Star, Volume XLVIII, Issue 89, 14 April 1917, Page 9

SHOULD RACING STOP?

j COUNTRY CLUBS' VIEWS. Mr. A. Bruce, president of the New Zealand Country Racing Clubs' Association, has forwarded the following opinion on the question of racing in war time, as - the view of hie Association, to the chaira man of the National Efficiency Board, v Wellington: — "As th-e question of racinjj as at present in vogue—or the total abolition or ■" redn-ction of the number of days of ru-c- - during the currency of the war —will, no doubt, be considered shortly by your * Board, the New Zealand Country Racing 1 Clubs' Association take the opportunity of laying before the Board tin; opinion a generally held by the various country l " clubs, in the Jiominion. The question in- > volved will, we presume, centre round ° the subject. "Is racing essential towards c 'winning th-e war; or is it detrimental c and a hindrance towards the desired J end?' Those entrusted with the answer r to the question, we. feel sure, will con- > sider the subject from a broad stands' point, as in many ways it is one of great 3 importance, and while giving ear to all L ' reasonable evidence tendered by those s who are in a position to advise through 1 their thorough knowledge of the su-bject, t they will in no way be guided by the c evidence of those who—whether the * State is at war or enjoying the blessinas r of peace—are ever at war with racing, c field sports generally, and popular places of amusement. The country racing clubs 1 submit that to take away the day or L - two which is allotted them for indulging '• in a national sport would be a hardship. '" These gatherings are looked , forward to [ ~ eagerly—not so much for the racing, bnt as being the one sport or outing that c brings them together once a year, where • old friendships are cemented and new 0 settlers are introduced to the common •; brotherhood. The meetings tend- to break; th» monotony of country life, and make •it more bearable. If the monotony of '• hundreds of thousands can be relieved by a a day or two of sport, then the end most r certainly justifies the means. The cessation of racing, or the reduction of the ,_ number of days allotted thereto during n the year, will no donbt release a certain r amount of labour which it is considered could be utilised for farm work, but ° would the la>bour released -bo. of any use g for farm work? or would the men and boys undertake farm -work if the racing ■* stables were closed? We unhesitatingly submit that as trainers are ; - men of mature age. and over the limit c for war service, and the jockeys are ° mostly of the bantam breed, they would ' be of little use for farm work: and. *■ moreover, while they could get any kind '" of work about the towns they would not c go into the country. The conscription t law we have takes every man fit for a service to the war; therefore, owners, trainers, jockeys, and s-pectatore at races a are, if between the ace of 20 and 46 '■ years, liable to be called up at any a minute to go into training. Therefore, !" whether racing is essential or non-essen-tial, its continuance cannot affect re- ' eruiting in any way. or lessen the nume ber of eligible men liable to serve. 1 FINANCE. j "Finance is of as much importance in winning the war as the supply of men. t The Association therefore point out that t the revenue—direct and indirect—col--1 lected during the current year amounts r to considerably over half a million of ~ money; therefore the question arisee: & 'Is the labour that will be released by the abolition of racing equivalent to the a amount of revenue that the State will [_ lose?' When one looks abroad for cvi- . dence on the point, we would point out d that Australia has decided not to stop racing, and in the State of New South Wales the Government pushed'through an Act degalising the use of the totalisator, the Prime Minister stat- | ing: "That the measure was for the purpose of getting revenue for war purposes." Now, if racing is to cease in Xew Zealand, it is only fair for those who advocate such a drastic step to let us know where and (j how we are going to make up the loss c of over a half a million of money. when ,{ the Treasury requires every shilling it li can get, and the taxpayers are already (j burdened heavily enough. f THE BREEDING QUESTION. d "There are other important aspects of a the question, viz., the good that the T State derives, for both -war and peace ,f purposes, by the breeding of the thore ougbbred horse, and the inducements a that should be held out to breeders from ''■ the public standpoint to continue their 5 work. However, as the president of the r New Zealand Racing Conference and the r President of the New Zealand Sports 6 Protection League have communicated r to you the opinion of their respective c bodies, there is no necessity for our Ass sociation also going into the matter, ■ further than to state that the Associan tion is in full accord with their conclu- * sions. t "Those interested in maintaining countl*V TSLQITItr 3.T0 fill of OTIC mind, VISE., to -"lo c all that is possible in their t ;ower to 6 bring the ivar to a successful conclusion. c They have contributed largely in men s and money towards this eiid, and are ■' willing in every way to assist the State, '' but they respectfully submit that in 1 their opinion the cessation of racing * will be a retrograde movement." 3