GREYHOUND RACING

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 107, 2 November 1937, Page 7

GREYHOUND RACING

POOR MAN'S SPORT

CONTROL IN N.S.W.

POLITICAL MANOEUVRING

(From "The Post's" Representative.) 1 : ■; SYDNEY, October 22.

; Since the introduction to New South Wales in 1927 of' greyhound racing alter a mechanical hare, the sport has provided Governments with many problems and some scandals, as well as considerable revenue. The latest problem has to be solved by the Cabinet next week.

(An American, Judge Swindell, introduced the sport, and made considerable money from the flotation of companies to exploit the patent rights of the apparatus he controlled. Complications led to the Bavin Government in"1928 forbidding'betting at the meetings, and the sport languished and died.' it revived when the Lang Government came into power in 1930, licences for betting being granted to certain companies arid denied to others^ After the; Lang, Government's defeat, Mr. Stevens appointed- a Royal Commission which unearthed many scandals and suspicious circumstances. His Government, in search of new revenue, decided to allow the reintroduction of greyhound racing, but decided that every club holding a licence must be a;' non-proprietary body. Although empowered to issue two metropolitan lidences, only one was granted—to the New South Wales Trotting Club, which was empowered to hold 52 meetings a year. '■: -. £

■^CANCELLATION OF LICENCE. 'The club for nearly four years has been holding meetings every Saturday tiijjht, attracting crowds of from 10,000 to.1 20,000 with low charges of admission,- and with its ability for bets on a^smair scale, greyhound racing 'became the "poor man's sport." The Trotting Club, however, unwittingly infringed the conditions of its licence. Each Tuesday night, it conducted trials | among the lower-class dogs to' decide qualifiers for the races on the following Saturday. ■ On a summons issued byj an "informer," a Magistrate decided that;' these "qualifying trials" were meetings, and that, therefore, the club haci-held in 1937 more than the 52 meetings provided for in its licence; Th,e club was fined £500 and. its licence for the remainder of the year wss ' cancelled, leaving Sydney the prospect of having no more greyhound rating for the rest of the year. .

Keen observers regarded the prosefcution of the club as "a sequel to a dispute; which began a year ago between the Trotting Club and the National Coursing Association, which alleged a breach of an agreement between the two bodies. The association formed the- Greyhound Earing Control. Council, which secured the affiliation of 46 out; of the 47-country clubs operating and then forbade owners of dogs racing on the country tracks to race at .the Trotting Club's track. The council has for long sought the issue of a second licence to itself for racing in the metropolitan area. With the ■way made clear -by: the Magistrate's decision for a reissue of licences, the Cabinet no<w has to consider thejap-; plications of three bodies—the Trotting Club, the Control Council, and • the Coursing Association. So again greyholirid racing enters the political sphere, and there is great wire-pulling going on behind the scenes. . . . MILLION AND A HALF INDUSTRY.; Greyhound, pacing ; has , axßandeden&iiouslS; -rsirice".tfxe.. present .system of granting licences to non-proprietary dubs began in December, 1933. There are now 48 greyhound clubs operating in New South '^ales. The aggregate amount paid to'the1 Government in taxation last, year, representing admission : tax and bookmakers'. fees, Erribunted to £101,000, of which country" .clubs "contributed £70,000 and the TrAtting Club £31,000. This was an increase of £37,000 on the previous year. Prize money amounted to £156,000, ;of which £119,000 was paid by country clubs and £37,000 by the Trotting Club. It has been calculated, ithat there is an annual turnover" from all sources of £1,500,000 for greyhound racing in this State. There are 18,000 do^s registered as at present racing. Meat consumed by them costs £156,000 end. biscuits'£s7,ooo.