EGMONT RACECOURSE.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 28 January 1928, Page 6

EGMONT RACECOURSE.

FACILITIES FOR PATRONS. APPOINTMENTS IN GOOD ORDER. Visitors to the summer meeting of the Egmont Racing Club next week will note with pleasure several alterations which have been recently carried out at the Hawera racecourse, the most noteworthy of which is the new position occupied by the judge’s box. Instead of being close up. to the rails as in the past, the committee has made a very wise move by installing the judge on a level with the stewards’ room, well back from the course. A representative of the “Star,” who visited the course yesterday, was very agreeably surprised to note the excellent view now obtainable by the judge. Placed as he is, about two and a half chains back from the rails and about twelve feet from the ground, the judge will be afforded much improved conditions. A new system of hoisting the placed horses’ numbers will also bo inaugurated at the forthcoming meeting. In conjunction with the semaphore outside the course proper, a fixture is attached to the judge’s box containing the numbers of horses, which will swing out in j full view of the patrons on the lawn. The totalisator has been thoroughly overhauled, and is now as good as new, and the fact -that there is plenty of room and a large number of “payout” windows installed in the new brick totalisator house, patrons may rely upon receiving their dividends with the utmost despatch. The course proper and other appointments are in excellent condition, and reflect the greatest credit upon the caretaker, Mr A. W. Morse, who has had a particularly trying time during the present dry spell. The lawns at the present time are a of colour, contributed by some particularly fine specimens of sweet peas, antiiirrinums, godetia, petunia, verbena and pansies, etc. Where the judge’s box formerly stood a rockery now greets the eye, and is a fitting tribute to the efficiency of the head gardener, Mr D. Stevenson. The residents of Hawera and the surrounding district are to be congratulated upon possessing one of the finest racecourses in the Dominion. This remark applies both to the track and the appointments generally.