TIN HARES AGAIN.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 87, 13 April 1933, Page 5

TIN HARES AGAIN.

RACING IN SYDNEY.

PREMIER BREAKS SILENCE.

ONLY ONE LICENSE ALLOWED.

(From Our Own Correspondent.)

SYDNEY, April 8.

It will be remembered that last year the Stevens Government eet up a Royal Commission to inquire into mechanical coursing—popularly known as tin hare racing; and it will not have been forgotten that the commission's report reflected very gravely upon certain financial transactions in which the promoters and controllers of the business were involved. However, th© Government allowed the existing clubs to go on racing under special permits after their licenses had expired, while special legislation was being prepared. A bill was drafted, but it was soon dropped, and the matter was allowed to stand over till after the recess. Now Mr. Stevens liaa broken silence with a statement of policy in regard to this form of public amusement. As the findings of the Royal Commission "made a continuance of the present state of things impossible," the conditions of tin hare racing are to be radically altered. After th© end of the current month, only one license shall be in th© metropolitan area, and this "only in respect of a racecourse where greyhound racing is to. be carried on by the clubs or associations, not run for profit." An exception may be made, as regards profits, in respect _ of "racecourses outside the metropolitan area wher© racing is at present being earned on by a proprietary club." But —and this is an extremely important proviso—no license will be granted either in the metropolitan area or outside it to any club or association affected by "any censure or adverse finding of the Royal Commission." There are at the present time in Sydney two licensed greyhound racing organisations —th© Greyhound Coursing Association, -which races at-Harold Park,

and the Greyhound Racing Club, -which holds its. meetings at Shepherd's Bush. The bill which was prepared hut suddenly dropped. last session provided for an increase of the number of licenses to four. Now, for reasons not yet explained, the number is reduced to one. As to the country racing clubs, there are four —at Lithgow, Wcllongong, Maitland and Newcastle, and they are apparently to be allowed to go on racing at least for the time'so long as they were not adversely criticised and censured In the report of the Royal Commission. It may. be added that there is no indication of any intention' to interfere with the hetting. Financial Interests. There is every reason to expect a great outcry against the new policy, both from the interested parties and from the general public, with whom the tin hares are extremely popular. . Mr. W. Brooks, MJL.C., who is a member of the control council which has been giving its services gratuitously to improve the sport ever since the trouble 'began, is very much amazed, and he has expressed his views in a statement .that was■ published in • the "Sydney ■ Morning • Herald" this week. He sympathises with- those who regard - tin hare racing as distinctively "the people's sport,and i he maintains that it should ■ be encouraged like horse racing, not forcibly, repressed. Moreover, "financial interests are bound to suffer" from ■ the new system, and-while injustice and loss will be inflicted upon organisations that have conducted the sport in a thoroughly blameless manner, the Government will destroy a valuable source of revenue for itself. No doubt there- is- something to be said for this, criticism, but it seems to me that Mr. Brooks has not made sufficient allowance for the shocking abuses which, as the report- of -the Royal Commission- showed, had sprung up .here in connection with tin hare racing, and the urgent necessity . for some fundamental change that would limit the scope of the system and bring it more directly under the supervision of control of responsible authorities. It has "been reserved' for the "Labour Daily" to offer the most astounding criticism yet recorded' on the proposed change. The 'Langite organ points out that the clubs affected by the restriction which will deprive of a license any organisation commented upon adversely by the Royal Commissioner, are the only clubs which made contributions ''in support of - the Labour party." Theref ore

it argues that Mr. Stevens., in enforcing this new system, is simply "pursuing the vendetta" that he has inaugurated against anybody and everybody who has ever been friendly or serviceable to Mr. Lang. Apparently the "Labour Daily" does not realise the danger of resurrecting the rumours and suspicions- which connected the names of certain men with forms of corruption unearthed by the Royal Commission.