PLEA FOR RACECOURSES.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2953, 27 November 1900, Page 3

PLEA FOR RACECOURSES.

(By “Tohunga” in Auckland “Herald. ) Everybody knows that without the racecourse we should have no hoise-breeding. Breeders will produce cows that will give 6001 b of butter yearly, and hens that lay 200 eggs yearly, and pigs that scale up to 2001 b, in little more than half the time, for the market value of them. Sheep, too, are commercially bred to a pitch that must cause the bones of Abel to turn in their grave from sheer despair at not being able to handle the fleece;and pigeons are bred to fly 1000 miles; and even mules that are a sight to behold. But the horse! We think kso little of the horse, and are so indifferent as to what sort of a crock we put our saddle over, that without the racecourse there would be no such thing as the spirited animal that can gallop six whole furlongs without falling down in a faint. And as the horse is such a valuable animal, and as our superiority over the rest of the universe depends upon our national sport, l anathema marantha be upon him who would destroy it by, objecting to gambling.

There are people who imagine, of course, that the well-to-do Englishman’s love for hunting, and the average colonial's love of a good mount, would save the saddlehorse from total degeneration, even if the racecourse was closed. This is plainly absurd. The Englishman wants a horse that will carry a 12st mun safely across a bullfinch, through ploughed ground, and over ticklish brook beds, and keep it up for an hour wflthoat wobbling its ears. The colonial wants a horse that will carry a lOst man from dawn till dark, and fling up its heels after a 50-mile ride. Whereas ..mv intelligent man knows that the crown and glory of horsey possibilities is to carry a stunted lad for a few furlongs on a carefully prepared track. To question this is to open the door wide to all sorts of heresy and schism. And as for those whose ridiculous prejudice against the racecourse induces them to say that if the horse cannot be properly bred without it, the resultant evils are so bad that the horse isn’t worth it, —such unpatriotic individuals are plainly pro-Boers, and as dangerous to the publicpeace as Jimmy Governor. It has been demonstrated that every society owes its culture to its leisured classes, who being relieved of the sordid necessity of earning their living, are free to devote themselves to the arts and sciences, to letters, to manners, and to public polity. At Home, the leisured classes exist hereditarily. Lord Salisbury and Mr Gladstone, Lord Kelvin and Mr Darwin, Lord Tennyson and Mr Ruskin, may be instanced as showing their value. But here in New Zealand, we are bereft by our primitiveness of these great and beneficent influences; or rather we should be were it not for the laudable gambling i: stincts \ hich induce the public to devote a considerable portion of its earnings to support the noble sport. Not only is horse-breeding prevented from falling into decay, but a leisured class is maintained. The example in dress, in language, in conduct, in probity, and in honour thus secured, is not to be valued in money. It is bad enough to seek to deprive the poor man of his beer, but what epithets can express the conduct of those who would deprive both rich and poor of intellectual converse. The sordid thoughts that arise from, the actualities of living and the confusing thoughts that arise from contemplating the ‘mmensities disappear before the fresh breath of racing gossip. Catch-me is bound to beat Touch-me-not in six furlongs, at 7st 121 b, but doubtful in a mile at 7st 13Id. Jonathan Wild is a sure thing 'or the Knock-me-down Stakes, and Rig-Hunter would have won the Maiden Plate, if . Is it not ten thousand times better to have such sublime and healthy ind inspiring conversation than to waste 'ine’s energy on things that do not matter ? Nor must we be led to misjudge gambling because of the occasional misery that it ocasions. The average man who loses is evidently not quite old enough to have pocket money, and as for the ruined homes Mid shattered reputations and hidden sorrow 'hat results, these things are natural, and must be accepted philosophically, as going to make up the best possible of worlds. Besides, think of the leisured class before mentioned ! The expansion of our language -done is compensation for the despair of hysterical wives, and the tears of foolishlyfond mothers. Why should we object to gambling f or the sake of some weeping old woman whom we have never seen, when we know that there could be no horse-breeding without it? Some people have no sense of proportion, and would even suggest that there are higher purposes in life than raising three-mile flyers. They even say we are our brother’s keeper. Our brother’s keeper! Now, in what part of the New Zealand school curriculum is that to be found? Neva Zembla we know, and the pons asinorum we know, and the differential calculus, but what is this about brother’s keeper. That is an old myth, invented to make people do what they do not want to do. The real thing is to do just as you like, and take no thought for another, and live on him if you can, nd keep of gaol. Besides, it is a final nrgmn'mfc against such absurd ethics, time if you once admit you are your blather’s keiper, yo i can hardly, con.sistentlv, say very much for the racecourse.