SPORTING.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XCIII, Issue 10662, 24 May 1895, Page 6

SPORTING.

[Special to Press Association.] LONDON, Mat 22. Carbine has'reached Gravesend, none the worse for hia Jong aea voyage. TAHUNA PARK TEOTTING CLUB. fPiB Press Association.] DUNEDIN, Mat 29. The Tahnna Park Trotting Club’s meeting was held to-day. when the sum of £1864 paaaed through the totaiisafcor. Tho following ate the results of the principal' events Maiden Handicap, of 20 sovs; one mile and a half—Balmoral 7seo, 1; Daisy Bell'-Msec, 2. Won by ten lengths. Time— 4min 25sec. Dividend, £42j. Tahuna Talk Handicap (harness),, of GO sovs; /two miles—Creole 34aec, 1; Beware 44sec, ■Sj Eita acr, 3. Won by three or four lengths., Beware broke badly while leading. Time—smin 40aec. Dividend—£s Bs. President’s Handicap, of 60 sovs; two naileii—Sail Home Bjec, 1; Little Fairy 36aec, 2; Havens wing 2Saeo, 3. Won by twenty yards. Tims—smin 21aec. Dividend—£93 14s. May Handicap (in harness), 'of 30 sova; two miles Sita sor, 1; Jane 26sec, 2j Berlin Abdallah Siec, 'B. Won by thirty-five yards. Time —Smin 15$aec. Dividend—£3 6s. Birthday Handicap, of SO sovs; one mile— Greystairs 21sec, 1. Peris came in second and Little Fairy third. Time—2mia 59eec. Dividend— £2 6a. '

CANTERBURY JOCKEY CLUB.

ANNUAL MEETING. , The annual general meeting of members oif’the, Canterbury Jockey Club was held at the Club’s rooms at 4 p.m. yesterday. The Hon E. W. Parker occupied the chair, and thirty-two members were present, NSW MEMBEP.fI. The following gentlemen were elected members :—Messrs J. B. Beckett, E. E. Lelievre, B. Latter, A. W. Money, J. B. Seid, A. Sefton, T. Skelton and A. Tyree. Annual repobt. •Tha' committee presented the following Mport j—“ Tour committee, in presenting tho balance-sheet for the season ending April 80,1895, have again to congratulate tho 'members on the continued success of ■the 'Club. The Grand National and spring meetings both returned handsome profits, but the summer meeting resulted dn a loss of about £3OO, the" additional loss as against last year’s meeting being about tho .same amount that waa added, in stakes. The loss on the autumn meeting was undiir £2OO, and when the bad weather is' taken into consideration, the club is fortnnats that it was no worse. The from nearly all sources are in excess of last year, and, though the . amounts received from entries, &c., appear less, they are in fact £270 more, us tho alterations of the conditions of the ■Challenge Stakes from £2OOO by subscription of 25 guineas to £IOOO with a £lO ■nbsoripbion, reduced the entries by about £IOOO,. and the alteration in the conditions of the Welcome, Derby, Oaks , and Champagne Stakes, under which no payment is required at date of entry, explains the shrinkage in the item * entries, &c., for .future events.’ The increase ‘ in the revenue derived from the totaliaator is £866, and this is explained t»y the fact that the total invested waa £4327 more than last year (although the autumn meeting showed a failing off of £2400), and also that the machines were worked under the control of the executive. Prior-to this year the working of the machine had been let by contract, and, if that arrangement had still been in vogue, the receipts would have been £5767 4s 3d. It will ha seen that the amount received was £6245 13a sd; this amount is clear of wages of staff. In making the alteration it' was necessary to purchase machinery and appliances for working, which will be found, on the . other side, viz., £6BB 18s 6d.. The principal items in this amount ate, machines £327 10s, and tickets and. Stationery £250, the balance being for alterations, Ac., in carrying out the new system of working. This will be the total cost of plant, as it will only be necessary to replace the number of tickets sold, which .should not exceed £3O per annum. The profit to tha club, without charging Jot .tickets and plant, was £478 9a 2dj therefore, in two years tha whole cost of plant could be written off. The , committee has, however, decided to Writs off ; 15-per cent per annum. The atakee show a decrease of £390, but tha amount given by the club is £6lO more, .the. . difference being the reduction of the Challenge Stakes, which is a subscription race, from £2OOO to £IOOO. The increase ui the attendance to meetings account is owing to the expenses attached to the starting machine. The question of increasing the stand accommodation has been under consideration, and the Secretary visited Australia for the purpose of obtaining information on the subject. Drawings and estimates will be prepared shortly. The committee have placed £3OOO to a reserve account, the reasons for which will be explained by the honorary Treasurer. The proper number having been tiomina tad for committee, honorary treasurer and honorary judge, it is therefore unnecessary to ballot for them. Fiftojjii nominations have been received for ate wards; a ballot will take place to xednce the number to twelve.” The.statement attached, audited by Mr A. Garrick, showed receipts £17,069 3s Bd, less .balance due to bank an d uupreaented cheques, £662 8s 4d. The principal .items of revenue were: Subscriptions, £661 5s ; nominations, acceptances, &c., £4455 10s; Tice receipts, £3326 17s; privileges, £llls 15s 8d; totaliaator, £6245 13s sd. The expenditure totalled £17,069 3s Bd, the principal ■ items being ;—Stakes, £11,954 Ifia;-‘salaries, £BO2 15s; totaliaator tax, £97o:Te;6d ; ct>at of totalisator, machinery and'tickets,'£6Bß 18s 6d; permanent improvements account, £428 18s 7d; and deposit in Union Bank, £SOO. Tho asset.-) w«ru put down at £14,040 9s Gd.and there lias a balance to credit cf profit and loss account: of £12,676 13a 2d. Tho general working account showed a balance to profit of £IOO9 la 4d. The Chairman moved the adoption of the -report and balance-sheet, and said that He thought that, on the whole, the club might congratulate itself on a successful year. Daring the year a considerable amount had been added to the stakes for the various races at the different meetings, and they came out at the end of the year with certainly not less, ■a compared with other years; in fact, the accounts showed that the dab was well on the right side of the ledger. There was one great difference, and that was the alteration made by the committee in the conditions of the Challenge Stakes, which been reduced from £2OOO to £IOOO, with a subscription of ten guineas instead ofvtwenty-five guineas. Of course, this bad reduced the entries to a very large.

extent. The committee during tho last twelve months had also altered tho conditions of the Welcome, Derby and Oiks, and this had influenced the appearance of the accounts to soma extent, with what result eventually thoy were unable yet to say. Tho summer meeting, as usual, had shown a loss of about £3OO, but it was no larger than they had expected at any auiumor meeting. They had not been able to show a profit on that meeting for many years, and until things altered in Canterbury, that meeting must be run at a loss to the club, bub tha loss was no greater than tho money .added to tho stp-kes, so this year they had really done hotter than in tho past. Another great alteration that might be noted was that the club, instead of employing contractors to run the totaliaator, had undertaken the work itself. Messrs Hobbs and Goodwin’s contract to run tho totaliaator had come to an end twelve months ago, and tho club undertook to do tho business itself, and the result bad beoa very gratifying, in that it could fehow a considerable profit over and above what it would otherwise have received. Of course tho receipts shown in the report, £6245 13.) sd, could nob be taken as ‘altogether profit, because tho cost of tho machines, £683 18s 6d, had to be sat off against it. It would, however, be hardly fair to charge the full amount of that coat against ono year, as it was hoped that tho machines would last for several years, and an amount could be written off for depreciation every year. As it was, thoy showed a profle of £478 9s 2d, which they would not have shown had the old plan of working with contractors been carried oat. Against this had to be sot the additional salary paid u> the Secretary for his increased rouble and work in connection with running the machine, which work was not by any means inconsiderable. Another thing which would interest members was the question of increasing tho stand accommodation. The report stated that tha Secretary had visited Australia for the purpose of obtaining information on the subject; he had brought back a considerable amount of information, and drawings and estimates were being prepared. Whether, in the present state of the club’s finances, it would be politic to go on with these ■ alterations and additions was a matter open to great discussion. Their finances were certainly healthy in that they had a reserve fund, but the committee thought that it should be kept as a reserve fund for any rainy days which might happen at any spring meeting, when the result to the club might be on the wrong side. So the feeling of the committee was that this £3OOO should be kept for such a contingency as that, and nob be devoted to putting up additional buildings on the course. If any means could be devised by which a new stand could be built without trenching on the reserve fund, he, for one, would be very glad to see it done. The Hon J. T. Peacock seconded the motion for the adoption of the report and balance-sheet, end* it waa carried* unanimously. ELECTION OP OPPICEBS. The following officers were elected for the ensuing year :—Stewards—Messrs P. Campbell, P. Cunningham, J. D. Lance, B. M. Mortea, E. Heaton Rhodes, J. Studholme, C. Tasohemaker, C. B. Winter, fair George Clifford, Hons E. W. .Parker and L. Walker and Dr Prins. Committee— Messrs P. Campbell, G. F. Martin, E. M. Morten, P. H. Pyne, E. Heaton Rhodes, J. Studhoime, E. D. Thomas, O. F. Todhunter, 0. Mood Williams, C. B. Winter, Sir George Clifford, Hoa E, W. Parker and Dr Prins; honorary treasurer, Mr G. G. Stead; honorary judge. Me P. C. Tabarb. PAYMENT OP STAKES. Me G. G. Stead moved —“ That the Canterbury Jockey Club give notice to move at tho nest conference, ‘ That all stakes advertised bo paid without discount or deduction.’” He said that it appeared to him that tho time had arrived when they should really give the amounts which they advertised, instead of practically advertising fictitious amounts. In days goao by, when racing was in its infancy in the colony, and tho bulk of the stakes wore obtained by a few subscriptions amongst the public, one could understand clubs endeavouring to give nominally larger stakes than thoy could afford, and making it a condition that 5 per cent should be deducted for the expenses of the meeting, but tor a club like theirs, supposed to conduct racing on modern lines, to give nominally £IOO and then take off 5 per cent for expenses, appeared to him to be a very antiquated way of conducting business. In England and Australia, wnere racing was carried on on modern lines, there was no deduction from the advertised stakes. As a matter of fact, the alteration ho proposed would make no difference to either the club or to owners. Tho club would require to announce some £6OO less than it nominally gave now. Ha could not help thinking that it was time for the whole of New Zealand to agree thafc, whatever the advertised amount of a stake was, that amount should be given free of deduction. Ho considered that it was a groan piece of injustice to take the 5 per cent from sweepstakes. Mr W. H. Wynn-Williams seconded the motion.

Sir Georgo Clifford said that he would like to hear tha representatives of the country cluba on the point. Ha waa very much in favour of Mr Stead’s proposition, b,ut at the present time the Canterbury Jockey Club appeared to be almost the only club ia Now Zealand which was really in a flourishing state, and it might come with a bad grace from it to force upon tha smaller clubs tha payment of stakes in full when it might be prejudicial to their interests to have to pay the advertised amounts without deduction. The Hon Launcelot Walker pointed out that representatives of the smaller clubs would be at the conference when the proposition was discussed. Mr E. D. Thomas said that ho did not think that the country clubs would like to have to advertise a £47 10a stake instead of £SO, and £95 instead of £IOO. Tho Canterbury Jockey Club should, ho thought, pay the old advertised stakes without deduction. After further discussion the motion was carried on the voices. Votes of thanks were passed to Mr A, Garrick for his services as auditor, and to the officers for their services during the past year. The meeting then closed.

Tha Canterbury Trotting Club’s Winter Meeting will held to-day, when the following horses may run forward in their respective engagements Maiden Trot, Master Chubb; Pony Trot, Fantasy; Birthday Handicap, Hurricane; Sires’ Stakes, Cleveland; Juvenile Stakes, Wildwood ; Addington Handicap, Three Cheers; Electric Handicap, Miss Graham and Lady Warbeck ; Dash Handicap, Berlin Maid. The Dunedin Jockey Club’s May Meeting will be commenced to-day, when the following horses may win their respective engagements: Hurdle Race, Rebel; Maiden Plate, Marino; Birthday Handicap, Casket; Selling Kace, Eothamsted; Tradesmen’s Handicap, Barmby or Bcadonwell; May Trot, Kita or Kavenswing. The winter meeting of the Wanganui Jockey Club will be held to-day, whoa the following horses may run forward in their respective engagements: —• Wanganui Steeplechase, Norton and Tiritoa; Winter Oats Handicap, Irish Twist; Plying Stakes, Waiuku; Hunters’ Steeplechase, Amalgam ; Hack Kace, Bowshot ; Trial Steeplechase, Kapua and Langley the Devil.