LOST RACING DAYS

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3172, 24 August 1917, Page 5

LOST RACING DAYS

■ I ♦ The troubles'of the little racing clubs that have lost their" permits in the recent curtailment of the sport were tho subject oE an interview between representatives of these clubs and tie Minis- ■ , ter of Internal Affairs. One of the conditions of the curtailment was.that the clubs which continued tome should from their profits find sufficient nionej to defray the liabilities of the club* ~ closed down, i The delegates.asked Mr. Russell that the Internal Affairs Department should collect the money and distribute it among the clubs If this were not done it was feared that the profits woul not bo available to help the c übs closed down, They .also asked that clubs which wero still continuing to hold raring, but which had lost some days, , Kd bo helped by the clubs making . P The 3 Minister said that tins.was one> of the most intricate and difncult matter* he bad ever had to deal with since ho had been Minister. It had always been his desire to protect the interests of the smaUer clubs P becanso he had recognised all through that the outcry was not . against the small clubs, but against the clubs in the larger centres. The objec- . tiott was to the amount of totalisator gambling, and not to racing perse be had had his way all the profits that were made by racing clubs throughout the. period 'of the war would have been v pooled in the Internal Affairs Department, and the proceeds, after paying all tho costs of the scheme, w.ould havebeen devoted to patriotic purposes. That scheme he was not able to carry through. The matter now rested entirely witbtno Racing Conference and the Trotting Conference as a combined 'body, and the deputation would havo to look to this body for the payment of tho claims and . tho settlement of all grievances. The , Government could not intorfero without) legislation, and there was not the slightest chanco of .legislation being proposed. Sir George Clifford hnd promised that the conference would consider claims for assistance of clubs which mikht make losses on account oflosing somo of their davs, and he had,no reason ,to suppose that tho members of the Racing Conferonco, a body of honourable gontlemon, «would not fulfil .their; obligations,