"HIGH-HANDED ACTION"
CRITICISM OF CONFERENCE
BAN ON TAKAPUNA COURSE
''The actions and decisions of the NewZealand Racing Conference have been most arbitrary, high-handed, and erratic, and have inflicted a grave injustice upon this club, one of the foremost, most popular, and' oldest clubs in the .Dominion," said Mr. E. W. Alison, president of the Takapuna Jockey Club, in reviewing at the annual meeting of members Jthis week the circumstances that had com"pelled it to discontinue racing on its own course. Here was a club with a first-class racecourse in splendid order, a course which coat over £20,000 to make, and with buildings and improvements all convenient and in good order, which cost an additional £40,000, Mr. Alison'continued. The course was proved to be safe by the fact that during the eight years since improvements were made no accidents had been attributed to its contofcr or to its condition or to any defect. Of the few accidents that had occurred in this time the evidence given, including that of the attending stipendiary steward or stewards, proved conclusively that in each instance the cause was purely accidental, and that the course was iv no way in fault. Mr. Alison outlined the various alterations that had been made to the course since the club was formed, in November, 28S0, by 51 keen sportsmen, of whom he was now the. only one alive. RECENT FATAL ACCIDENTS. At the Summer Meeting in 1925 a fatal accident occurred in a hurdle race, due to no fault of the course, it being conclusively proved that the fall was a pure accident. However, the Racing Conference instructed the Auckland District Committee to appoint experts to report upon the layout of the course and whether improvements could be made. All the improvements these experts recommended were carried out at a cost to the club of over £3000. The late Sir George Clifford, then president of the conference, personally inspected the course and gave an unqualified approval of the alterations, and expressed the opinion that it was both safe and well laid out.
Sixteen race meetings had since been held, at which 2728 horses competed. The
"HIGH-HANDED ACTION"
Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 78, 29 September 1934, Page 23
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