The Hastings Standard Published Daily. MONDAY, SEPT. 28, 1896. AN INJUSTICE TO HASTINGS.

Hastings Standard, Issue 132, 28 September 1896, Page 2

The Hastings Standard Published Daily.

MONDAY, SEPT. 28, 1896. AN INJUSTICE TO HASTINGS.

For the cause that lacks assistance, For the wrongs that need resistance. For the future in the distance, And the good that we can do.

In the days of the battering-ram it was thought that the strongest wall mast fall if the ram was kept at it long enough. Tradition ia almost as strong as one of the old Roman battlements, and it .takes a lot of battering to lot daylight through it. There is a tradit ion in Napier that Hastings is too juvenile to manage its own institutions, and at thai fallacy tbe Sxmouad in.

tends to keep the battering-ram of public opinion bard at work until the tradition dies. The Ha.wke's Bay Jockey Club and the Hawke's Bay Agricultural and Pastoral Association are Hastings institutions pure and simple. Their carnivals are held in Hastings, and Hastings people are their principale patrons. Yet both are managed from Napier, and the inconvenience that arises therefrom is yearly becoming more palpable. On Monday next the race meeting opens. On the evening of the first day's events owners and trainers are compelled to drive into Napier to ascertain the weights apportioned for the second day. The sporting public know nothing of the acceptances, unless through the telephone, which is erratic at times, until the following morning. The convenience of the patrons of the Club is in no way studied, and it is about time there was a change. There is not a single argument to be adduced why Napier should control our principal institutions, and there is everything to be said in favor of a change of headquarters to Hastings. There would be no difficulty whatever as to rooms, and the question of the change being acceptable to the majority of the race-goers is on the face of it clear to the most ordinary mortal. The present Committee of the Jockey Club is composed of gentlemen of estimable character, but they are moving behind the times. Their intentions are no doubt honorable, but in keeping to the old worn-out groove th n y are not considering the people whom they mainly depend upon for support. What they want is new blood. Youngsters generally show better form than aged horses, and a few juveniles in a team often tend to bring the others up to the front rank. "When Hastings was a little younger it was perhaps right that she should look to Napier to take charge of some of her affairs ; but now that she finds it positively inconvenient to allow this to continue, her claims should be at once considered. Let public opinion keep battering at the subject, and Napier's tradition will crumble. Of the inconvenience caused by the business of the A. and P. Association being managed from the Breakwater City we will have something to say anon.