BETTER TREATED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 96, 26 April 1933, Page 10

BETTER TREATED.

N.Z. RACING PUBLIC. COMPARISON WITH SYDNEY. CROWDING AT RANDWICK. A poor opinion of the treatment of the public on the racecourses of Sydney is held by Mr. A. G. Mabee, secretary of the Auckland Trotting Club, who, with Mrs. Mabee, returned to Auckland by the Wanganella, from Sydney this morning after a seven weeks' holiday visit. Only one trotting meeting was attended by Mr. Mabee. He said that was enough for him. "Harold Park is a small course and does not compare in any way with our own," he said. "The 'tote' was deserted and everybody swarmed round the 'bookies' in their efforts to get the best price. If one of the 'bookies' raised the price a point, there was a general stampede. I did not like the atmosphere of the place. They can't teach us. anything in the way of conducting meetings." Two days were spent by Mr. Mabee at Randwick racecourse. "I don't think the New Zealand public would tolerate for a moment what they have to put •up with over there," he said. "Members of the New Zealand public occasionally come along with trivial complaints, but if they were at Randwick they would have some justifiable complaints. I saw 4000 people, who had arrived by trams, hemmed in a narrow passageway . between the Leger and the enclosure and kept there for twenty minutes before the officials opened the gates on to the 'flats.' When the gates were opened the people swarmed across like a flock of sheep. If there are not enough windows open at the 'tote' the people have to wait. But the public seem to be used to it, and they are not studied." The racing was excellent, and the events were well conducted, but the accommodation for the public was poor. The teahouse on the lawn at Randwick was not as good as the "outside" at Ellerslie. For 1/6 you got a cup of tea, a,sandwich and a couple of cakes —and the people swarmed to pay their one-and-sixpences.