CURE FOR BOREDOM.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 19 May 1928, Page 13

CURE FOR BOREDOM.

BRITISH DOG RACING.

BILL TO LICENSE TRACKS. “Betting cannot be stopped. It is almost, an Englishman’s inheritance,” said Lord Asquith last month when introducing to tne Home Secretary, Sir William Joynson-Hicks, a deputation representing sporting and financial interests concerned with dog-racing. The deputation was supporting the Bill introduced by Colonel John Buchan, Conservative member for the Scottish Universities, to enable local authorities to. license dog tracks. Speakers l denied that dog-racing led to juvenile betting, and contended that it decreased drinking. An instance was quoted where the returns from a public-house in the neighbourhood of a dog track at Edinburgh had fallen 27 per cent. It was also claimed that dog-racing was the greatest cure for boredom, ancl that King Alfonso of Spain had expressed the opinion that it was the greatest cure for anarchy and Communism . In hi.s reply Sir William JoynsonHicks pointed out that some who believed in dog-racing “were animated by the roulette-board.” If that were true, he added, the Government, as custodians of the moral welfare of the nation, must take one' view. If, however, they were convinced that it was a. bona fide sport, like horse-racing, they would be compelled fo regard it differently.