SPORTING.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LVI, Issue LVI, 29 January 1909, Page 7

SPORTING.

TAKAPUNA RACES.

fPHESS ASSOCIATION.]

AUCKLAND, January 29

The weather is fine and the attendance good for the opening day of Takapuna races.

Maiden Plate — Mentira 1, Explosive 2, Lord Crispin 3. All started. Mentira was in front all the way, winning by three lengths. Time, 1.45.

Calliope Handicap — Hyperion 1, Sea Elf 2, Elegance 3. Scratched: Snowfoot, Impulsive, Cortine and Tukutuku. Won by a length. Time, 1.10 2-5.

Zealandia Handicap — Azoff 1, Wauehope 2, Devonport 3. Scratched: Lady Francis, Miss Advance. Won by a head. Time, 1.10.

Muskerry, Merose, Ballarat, and Miss Park have been scratched for all engagements at the forthcoming race meeting in Hawera.

The Stratford Borough Council and the management of Miss Ada Crossley's concert tour have had a difference of opinion regarding charges. The difficulty arose fnom the tariff being subject to a sliding scale in ratio to the prices charged for admission. As the prices for Madame Crossley's concert in a small town are necessarily high, the rent asked for the hall was proportionately so. The principle (the Stratford correspondent of the Taranaki Herald says) seems a just one. The hall is not a commercial success, and the Council is bound to use every fair means to lessen the charge on the rates. Madame Crossley's visit will undoubtedly use up the pocket-money of the show-going public for some little time, and the hall receipts may be oxpectpd to undergo a slump.