The Gisborne Times SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1937. AN UNHAPPY MINISTERIAL DECISION.

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 13092, 13 February 1937, Page 4

The Gisborne Times SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1937. AN UNHAPPY MINISTERIAL DECISION.

There is widespread disappointment in connection with the attitude which thu Minister for Lands has taken up in connection with the desire of the local racing authorities to he allowed to continue to hold meetings at the Park. In effect, Mr. Langstone- has now laid it down that, if any further request should be made by the Club for the right to race there, it will be refused. If it should so happen that the Minister cannot bo induced to change his mind it will, of course, mean that all racing locally in futuro will require to be held on tho other course at Makaraka or that tho club will be put to the expense of securing and equipping another more suitable and more convenient area. What really does appear to be the position is Mr. Langstono does not, as yet, seo tho matter in its true perspective. There would be a lot of support for his viewpoint if circumstances wore altogether different from thoso that obtain here. If, for example the local racing club wero a newlyconstituted body, and its members wished to use an area well within the. borough that was in constant use by a large section of the public for other recreational purposes, many would at once see the force of the-. Minister’s arguments. As it so hoppens, however, the Park is situated an appreciable distance from the centre of thetown and has, for many years, been used f6r racing. What is more, the few days which tho Turf Club has need of it each year might ctasily be spared for its meetings without doing anybody any injustice. It seems Mr. Langstone is also under the mistaken impression that the club would be just as well off if it wore to be forced to conduct its meetings on the area nt Makaraka that was formerly also used for racing purposes. But the old course at Makaraka is much further away from tho town and the conditions underfoot aro not nearly as agreeable a.s thoso at the Park, either for training or for racing when the weather is unpropitious. An additional disadvantage is, of course, the fact that there is no steeplechase course at Makaraka. It may ho the case that the whole of the facts may have been carefully put before the Minister. When ho visits Gisborne, however, the matter is to bo put before him again and ho should have no difficulty in coming to a decision to reverse ihe ruling that has occasioned so much disappointment and which, if adhered to, would bo far from helpful to tho local racing authorities, who are at preoent engaged in a hard struggle to throw off the remaining adverse effects that wero resultant from the depression.