A HINT TO THE D.J.C.

Otago Witness, Issue 2355, 13 April 1899, Page 36

A HINT TO THE D.J.C.

Two or three times, in a quiet kind of way, I have drawn attention to the strange fact that the Dunedin Jockey Club does not advertise ite programmes in a single Otago paper. This studied neglect almost looks very much as if the club did not want Otago patronage. That, of course, cannot be the case. In past years, when crowds assembled at the Dunedin Cup meeting, our rural 'friends made up a large percentage of the throng, and I cannot think that their support is not valued. As a matter of fact the club would very much like to get their attendance and their custom for the totalißator as well; but for reasons which I cannot pretend to guess the club will not openly avow this by going about the matter in the ordinary and businesslike way, and whatever publicity the metropolitan meetings receive from papers which circulate in the Otago country districts is given gratuitously and out of good nature or a pure love of the sport. This cheese-par-ing policy, so utterly opposed to the line of action adopted by clubs in other districts, where local support is deemed of the first importance, hae at last drawn from an outside and independent journal a well-deserved reproach. The Canterbury Times, in its editorial capacity, prints this advice: "It has been hinted that the Dunedin Jockey Club has lately shown little disposition to popularise its meetings among the inhabitants of Otago. If thie criticism is justified, the authorities will be wiEe to accept the advice conveyed by it and endeavour to gain the support of the people living in the immediate neighbourhood. The locality of the Wingatui course should be sufficient to ensure the patronage of many country residents who demurred at making the journey to the Forbury. The club will do well to remember this, and advertise its meetings in the country districts of the province. When once it has succeeded in arousing the interest of the country folk it will not need to regard the future with apprehension. It will have secured a class of supporters which, in Canterbury, is regarded as the baokbqne of the Canterbury Jockey Club. Then it will not be compelled to rely for .its revenue upon»the money which it extracts from the pookets of the apathetic townspeople and visitors from other provinces. Briefly, it will be au institution supported by the whole oE Otago, capable of providing sport of the best description." I pass on this advice with my best respectß to the authorities of the D.J.C., reminding them at the same time that there may bo a possible connection between the moan policy and the reduced attendances. Can tho D.J.C. imagine the C.J.C. restricting its programmes to a Hawke's Bay paper, or the Auckland Club confining its patronage to a Wellington journal? They are not bo foolish.