CONDEMNED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 238, 8 October 1936, Page 9

CONDEMNED.

TIN HARE RACING. PROTEST BY CLERGYMEN. " SORRY, SORDID BUSINESS." (From Our Ovrn Correspondent.) * SYDNEY, October 2. As most people arc aware, the churches, generally speaking, are hostile to any form of sport which promotes and encourages gambling—or, more accurately, they condemn the gambling that seems to be inseparable from many forms of public amusement. This phase of the question, however, frequently obscures its other aspects, and it may interest people who regard themselves as openminded on such matters to hear what one of the leading churches on the North Coast found to say recently about coursing. At a meeting of the Richmond Presbytery, and covering the extensive coastal and riverside areas of Brunswick, Richmond and Tweed, it was resolved to appeal to the Chief Secretary to refuse renewal of all suspended licenses for mechanical hare racing in the Lismore and Murwillumbah districts and to consider cancelling all existing licenses at Grafton, Casino, Tweed Heads and other adjacent centres. The presbytery had) been alarmed by the discovery that the management of the Tweed District Hospital had tried to secure a "tin hare" license to run dog races for the benefit of its own funds, and apparently the Presbyterian clergy, having offered the hospital 10 guinea-* as a "fraternal" token of good will, has been able to make the hospital see the error of its ways. Objections Specified. The presbytery was extremely anxious that Mr. ChafTey (our Chief Secretary) should understand the precise grounds of its objections to the "tin hare." and therefore they were set out at length in the accompanyingl memorial: "That legitimate traders arc greatly perturbed by the effect of the 1 sport on business; "that the poliec are I

finding their vigilance taxed to the limit by the presence of vicious aliens attracted by the races; that law-abiding people of good will who valued and have sought for a quiet and honourable life are shocked and disturbed by the cruelty, dishonesty and feverish selfish; ness associated with the sorry and sordcd business; that the chief attraction for most of the patrons of this sport was the opportunity afforded for gambling on a small scale by those who could least afford it; that a large proportion of the revenue derived from it was. gained as a result of the prominence given to features which were morally indefensible, and which were having a most damaging effect upon childhood and youth; and that the cumulative effect of the foregoing would be calculated to influence the votes of many past supporters of the Government at the next elections." To cynics it may seem that the real point and sting of their appeal is to be found in the last sentence; and it will be interesting to see if the Government is in this respect amenable to 1 little "undue influence" of a political kind. Xo one, however, can doubt the sincerity of the clergymen who frawed this appeal to the Chief Secretary, and even those who do not wholly agree with them must admit that they have! drafted a very formidable indictment, j