MAKING THE SPORT CLEAN.

Otago Witness, Issue 2399, 22 February 1900, Page 40

MAKING THE SPORT CLEAN.

The Bishop of ' Chester, preaching the memorial pennon on the lace Duke of Westminster, said there might have been differanceh of opinion respecting the Duke-, con-t-pieuous paironncfp of hoivemcing. with its pernicious multitude of attendant evils, but of one thing they might be absolutely certain, thai in thi* matter, and in other matters as to which thoughtful persons weje divided in judgment, thi Dukt\ rctcd conscientiously and under the firm conviction that the policy he pursued was, on the whole, the wisest and the heM. He was by no means blind to the evils, the curses, which haunted the iacccouive. They knew how readily he countenanced and supported every judicious effort to reform ; how, for example, it was larger/ to his influential co-operation with Dean Howson and other pvblic-spirited citizens ihot CiiP-dpr during the race week, became Icj-s and lers l'o'> pandemonium if had bepn. Some of them would have beeu glact if he had ceon ~l\U way co condemn even moro decisively thu ruinon- vices of bettinsr and gambling; but tho point to understand and remember wos that tho Duke, with full knowledge of the subject in all its bearings, upheld and cultivated horsei'ocing. not merely or chiefly because he delighted and excelled in it, but because he honestly believed it to be in it.=elf a noble sport, which tho nation could not and would not afford to part with, a tporl which ought to be elevated, not aboMshed. Sovp« years ago the topic of racing was dit-pu-^cd among the Leeds clergy, and, taking the Duke as the most conspicuous racing man of the best type, lie (the bishop) raised the question whether it would be right to advise the Duke to withdraw his wholesome and honourable palronnqe from the sport, and leave it to po unchecked to deeper degradation in its own wa3'. The general conclusion was that, if they could, none of them would imdprtako ihe responsibility of counselling withdrawal.