SOME STRAIGHT TALK

NZ Truth, Issue 108, 13 July 1907, Page 2

SOME STRAIGHT TALK

To the Stewards of the Wellington Racing Club.

Sirs, — No tfoub-t you will think, it an unpardtmaJble piece of impudence on my part to presume to address, much more then to attempt to direct you m the doing of your duty as guardians of tlie publdc rigtots. But I ask you :to waive that 'question for a momeii't, and hmr me out. Several . of you, wben appointed, were either I'gjnOTant of the real responGiMliiaies of a stewarid^ or else m your anxiety to hold pronnment positions m -tliie racing world you accepted ofl&oe without a thought for i-be div|ers duties attaching to it or your aibdlitv to parry out the duties. Seeing tihen that so many of your nun>foer are lik-e the unfaithful steward of the G-ospel, it is a goreat pity that these do not resign and' make room for ahler men. The President of your v. club (Mr J. B. Harconrt) and ante of your fraterndty (Hon. T. X- Macdonald) are altogether too fond of smiling and smoodging to big gmns like, the Governor, the Premier, and any' of the. admitted aTistocra-ts wip plug along m Plunket's wake. In Mr Harcourt, as President, this is perhaps excusable, but what it has to dio with T.K.s position as • steward, I fail to see. As far as that goes, however, the fact of him being a steward at all seems highly orous, if >not the most rddiculpus 1 rot, for, he is generally credited with being as blind as a 'bat, and blindness is scarcely an attribute to 'qualify a steward for sighting the sleepers and the rioters. Nevertheless, though there are one or two nincompoops on your list, there are still among you enough business-like men who appear quite capa-ble of conserving the public interests, provided you are willing .to put a little extra energy into your exertions. But at the outset you must be prepared to find arrayed against you the " chief crooks and cranks of the racing rafable, all intent on deceiving 1 your handioapper m the matter of form, and ready to give trouble m a dozen different ways. In the Winter meeting, which commences next Saturday, you will probably find plenty that will require your attention- At this time of the year sundry steeds are saddled up as "stoomers" willh a view of being let loose m some more important event later on. It is clearly your duty to detect and deal with all such cases. Do not wait for the handicapper ito disqern 1&e dead 'uns. Remember if ihe piles the poundage on to : aprad for a poor performance, it is virtually a vote of censure on y our sel vies. In cases of foul riding you must, not expect the victimised jockeys to speak out first. They very often hesitate about taking such a course, and if you, sirs, remais! inert, some serious offenders may escape punishmentRegardino- your past work ; with childish- candour you boast of the factthat since the opening of the Trentham track, there has been- nothing whatever m the nature of an inquiry or" a protest at any of youT inee'timgs. This gilded gasconading is nothing more or less than an admission of dilator&ess m your. duty. It. is now some eigStofceien months since the course was put m commission, and the puiblic want to know what you have been doing all that time. There have been several shady cases you flailed to discern, or if you saw them, passed by. I think you will admit t&at m one case, .at least, sentiment stepped m and stopped the stewards. Now you know, or you certainly ought /bo Know, that gentlemen m your position should not be swayed by sentiment. There may be occasions when it is necessary to administer a stern sentence to a friend, or contrariwise, you may, m doing the correct thing, be accused of partiality '{fco some particular party. However, as these conditions were plain to you when accepting y<>ur honorary .positions, you must be prepared to fulfil your duties, regardless of carping criticism. If you are dertermined to -od-eal with every case on its merits, you should immediately banish the matter # class distinction from your toraan^box and consider only tbo pub-lie, owners, trainers, : and jtockeys. In the racing arena all borse-owmers must be tegarded as equals, thbu-gh outside than; one may own a country and another but a cab. In the past the big stables seem to have 'been treated with one code of justice, wMle a totally different one : obtained for the common gentry.. What I waiab *o impress upon you,, sirs, is this. Should you at any timo see an unsatisifactory performance put up by a horse hailing from the Karamu, the Yaldhursti, or any of the other big stables, it is your bounden duty to call • for an explanation, .lust as you would m tbo case of a horse belongimg to a battler. line idea that any owner is above suspicion should never for a moment enter into your calculations. Recollect they are to a large extent m the hands of their trainers and jockeys, and because an owner happens to be a steward and a station-holder all m one. that does not warrant his jockey boring; an opponent across tlm track into the grandstand or shooting him over tV rails. Neither is it a valid reason why his jockey should take liokt of his horse one day and have a go the next. If you would only prove a little hrore alert and active, there is no reason why you ' should not put through your work with satisfactory results, but if you persist m shamV)ling :iml. shuffling and shirking your duty, then it is high time thai yoxi we™ succeeded b^ stipendiary stewards PorbP/ns yon could not adopt a bett&r Plan than to place before' your miwds the work you .would expect

from paid officials and model your own duties on similar lines. Do not [imagine that you can see everything from an armchair m the stewards' stand, for. that is impossible. When big fields appear on the course, cne of you might, with advantage, stroll down to the bend, and another might station himself at the starting pest, where the presence of a steward would at least j have a good moral effect on jockeys contemplating crooked work. In conclusion, I trust that t.bese remarks will be accepted m the spirit that they are giv^n, and at this and other meetings at Trentham , there will be left nothdng undone on your part that will m any way prove detrimental to the sport or betray . the confidence of the public. — Yours watchfully, • "SPEARMINT."