ROYAL COMMISSION ON GAMING SITS IN CITY ON MONDAY

Evening Star, Issue 26103, 17 May 1947, Page 6

ROYAL COMMISSION ON GAMING SITS IN CITY ON MONDAY

Members of the Royal Commission on Gaming—Mr Justice Finlay (chairman), Mr W, H. Freeman, S.M., and Mr J. W. Heenan, Under-Secretary of the Department of Internal Affairs—were to attend the Canterbury Park Trotting Club’s meeting at Addington to-day, and will arrive in Dunedin tomorrow to open sittings in the Supreme Court on Monday. The hearings will continue until Friday. The Balclutha Trotting Club, which will put its case forward at the opening sitting,, will be represented bv Mr A; G. Neill, who will tender evidence in support of its claims for a totalisator permit. The club at present holds a permit for a non-totalisator meeting. The Forbury Park Trotting Club (Mr Neill) will call six witnesses in support of a claim for two extra permits. The club’s main witness will be the president, Mr B. S. Irwin, who has bad long experience in all phases of racing. Mr Irwin has been prominent in trotting since the Forbury Park Club’s inception, and has been presi-

dent since 1923. He has been a vicepresident of the New Zealand Trotting Conference for about 12 years, president of the Otago Hunt for 33 years, and a member of the committee of the Dunedin Jockey Club for 23 years. Mr W. J. Meade will advance the claims of the Roxburgh Trotting Club, which holds a non-totalisator meeting, and he will concentrate on obtaining a permit for a totalisator meeting. The Oamaru Trotting Club will be represented by Mr J. E. Farrell, who will call evidence in support of the club’s claim for extra permits. Any evidence tendered by the Dunedin Jockey Club will be in support of the claims ’made by Mr A. T. Donnelly for the New Zealand (Racing Conference. A number of individuals have also given notice of their intention to give evidence. The Dunedin sitting of the commission will be the fifth, other centres visited being Wellington, New Plymouth, Napier, and Christchurch. The main submissions put forward so far have been arguments in support of the Trotting Conference’s case (Mr 0. S. Thomas), the Racing Conference (Mr A. T. Donnelly), the New Zealand Sportsmen’s Association (Mr W. E. Leicester), and the Council of Churches (Mr J. R. Marshall).