N.Z. TROTTING CONFERENCE.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 135, 14 July 1914, Page 5

N.Z. TROTTING CONFERENCE.

PRESIDENTS ADDRESS. ; Press Association. WELLINGTON, July 14. The annual conference tff delegates from the New Zealand trotting clubs opened to-day, Mr J. Rowe (Auckland) presiding. The president's address was oruered to' be printed and circulated. The address was as follows: — Gentlemen, —Reviewing the season now quickly drawing to a close, the outstanding feature of the sport of trotting appears to be its continued rapid growth in popularity. "The people's sport," as it may be justly termed, appears to be expanding itself in all directions, as evidenced by the promotion of a number of fresh trotting clubs in the Dominion. Although I did not see the great sports meeting, promoted in Christchurch in honour of the battle cruiser New Zealand which visited our shores twelve months ago, it was,-1 believe, a truly magnificent spectacle. The great concourse of people which attended demonstrated ishat both the sporting and the patriotic spirit are very much alive. The star .attraction was the exhibition trotting race between the pick of Canterbury horses. Undoubtedly such a huge assembly was proof, if any were needed, that the people do not always require inducement" in the shape of any means of betting to attract them to a liorse race. I have heard it remarked that trotting has become a serious rival of the old-established and more pretentious sport of .galloping. This may be true, but nevertheless I do not think that the advance of light harness racing will interfere with the other. As a rule, where one branch of horse racing is, 'tiie other is present also, and one helps the other. Some base their arguments ©n tiie fact that at one particular meeting of the premier trotting club the value of its principal event and its "totalisator revenue for one day exceeded that of the premier jockey club. •When the total amount of prize money .and totalisator figures of each club at the end of the year are compared it is clearly seen that the "sport of " as it is sometimes called, is ptilf invulnerable. Gajloping and trotting have their own particular spheres. the former provides one form of racing for the more wealthy and Jpisured portion of the community, the tatter provides another for the masses, and tftey both serve a most important jpurpose 1n encouraging the breeding of the best types of man's most useful jassistant in times of peace or war. Coincident with the expansion of the

sport, the breeding industry goes pteadily on. There is keen activity * among breeders all over the Dominion Jo breed and supply the ever-increasing ■demand for the best stamp of horse for jracing and light harness purposes. have long seen the wisdom of going far afield, and at big expense and jrisk, to secui'e stock of the highest lineage from which to breed. It is many years since the late Robert Wilkin, of jChristchurch, and others of that gentleman's stamp imported from America, ihe home of trotting, some of that country's-bcst. To them and their followers of recent years much praise is

>flue for their pluck and enterprise

You are doubtless aware that Mr , George Hunter's Gaming Amendment Bill, which provides for 27 additional licenses td* racing and hunt clubs and three to trotting clubs —a very small

proportion to the latter everybody will fr -acknowledge,—came before the House last session. The executive met in Wellington, and made strong representations to the authorities there with a view td getting a fairer distribution. We still maintain that trotting was deprived some years ago of several licenses to which it was justly entitled, and which have never been restored. Based on the reduction of the total by one-third, according to the Gaming Act of 1894, trotting clubs did not receive their due share, and representations were made to the various Governments for vciJrs past for a restitution, but Without avail. Application to the Colonial Secretary at that time disclosed the fact that the four licenses which tightly should have been allocated to trotting clubs had been granted to racing clubs. This can all be supported •vr reference to Hansard. , * _ - there firo so many important trot- •\ <onhvn without the assistance of »xiO to.alif.T.tor, it is thought, in view

of any increase, that trotting should receive at least 10extra permits, including the four which, it ha® always been claimed, it- was entitled to by law. Strong representations were made by the executive last October, which I hope will ultimately bring about the 'much-desired effect should the Bill beicome law. It has already passed its second reading, and no effort should be spared in the interests of trotting clubs to secure a fairer proportion of the extra licenses proposed in the Bill, and I trust that this conference will again agree to deputationise the authorities and insistently urge the claims of our sport for greater consideration than it has yet received. Compared with all previous years, the work of the conference during the season has been exceptionally heavy, the bulk of which fell upon the members .of the executive, and entailed an unusual volume of secretarial work. You will remember last year I suggested that we should obtain a report from time to time on the courses and appointments of each club and also upon the conduct of their meetings, so that we should know whether they were, kept' up to a proper standard. The executive decided to go ftito the matter, and at a meeting held resolved that a report be obtained on all the clubs. This necessitated the appointment of a representative to attend all the race meetings throughout the year, and although this meant a heavy expense it was deemed advisable to incur it. I might say but for the good offices of several gentlemen outside the conference, to whom our thanks are due, the expense would have been, much greater than it was. We have now a complete record of how each club stands, what the condition of its course and appointments is, hnd the manner in which it controls and regulates its meetings. I am sure the information gathered will be very useful and of great assistance to us. I would suggest, that, as it is of a confidential naturef it be left to the executive to go through and use it to the best adFor instance, in cases where clubs could "put their house in order," any shortcomings should be pointed out, and the recalcitrant club should be given to understand that if no improvement be made it would run the risk of its license being recommended to a more deserving club.

There is one matter to which my attention has been drawn during the year, which I think is worthy of more than passing attention. I have been led to understand that in certain clubs there are restrictions as to the number of members. While it may be judicious that such restrictions should exist where the membership list is becoming unwieldy, I think it js absolutely necessary that this conference should take care that the membership should not be so restricted as to make it appear almost a proprietary club. In this respect I would suggest that next year's executive enquire carefully with regard to the position in all clubs under our jurisdiction.

Coming to the question of the appointment of stipendiary stewards, this matter was brought up last year by the New Zealand Metropolitan Trotting Club, and left with the executive to draw up a report for our consideration to-day. In accordance with a resolution copies were sent out to all the clubs two months ago, and I think you w T ill agree with me that the report is very comprehensive and informative. Details regarding the expense that would be involved are laid before you as well as other valuable information for our guidance. Last year I dwelt at some length on the question, and I was not quite convinced that the time was ripe for such a venture; yet I think the general feeing of the representatives then was in favour of it. However, Ave have now had a further twelve months to ruminate upon the matter and strengthen our minds ono way or the other. The need for paid officials appears to be regularly urged, and during the present Reason there have been occasions when it has been forcibly brought home to those who have a genuine interest in the sport that steps in this direction must be taken sooner or later- It is of the utmost importance that the racing should be under control of capable and reliable stewards, who take the trouble to acquaint themselves with the duties appertaining to office, and give the requisite study to the rules and the protection of the public. It is unfortunately the case that stewards sometimes know little or nothing of the rules, and however anxious they may be to do what they think to be right, are prone to err.

To my mind one of the greatest advantages of the stipendiary system—and there are many—would be that

there would be continuity of supervision. As the ease staads at the present; time, when the meeting of a club has concluded, the stewards have finished their duties, and any notes, records, or observations which they may have made are not available" for the stewards of the next club at whjch the same competitor may be starting, so that the inconsistency of the animal, or the driver, always most difficult toseparate or distinguish, is still more clouded by the fact that it is being viewed and decided upon by a different body of stewards who, perhaps, did not see, and more than possibly if they did, did not keenly observe the previous per-* forma-ace or misdemeanour of the competitor. Another advantage would be to entirely abolish the most dangerous practice of foul driving, for with capable stipendiaries going from meeting to meeting and taking notes of any doubtful procedure on the part of a rider or driver, it would not be long before the man who is prepared to risk the lives of those who are competing against him in a race, would have his license cancelled, and be relegated to his proper place. Men who are not versed in trotting law, or who do not take "the trouble to make themselves conversant with it, are j the (hies who, as frequently as not, are responsible for wrong decisions, which land their clubs in difficulties with the powers-that-be, thus showing how desirable it is that the stewardship of clubs should be in the hands of men not only of probity, but of experience. The betting steward, I trust, has been almost eliminated. Where he has not, I would say to members of clubs in which he still exists, take care that he be not again placed in authority. There is very often a difficult matter in which to prove fraud. I am sure that if the stewards more often took advantage of Rule 284 it would be more satisfactory to everybody, particularly j our patrons, to whom it is our duty to provide races as free from abuse as pos-1 sible. Under that rule the stewards j have the power, in case of inconsistent ] or unsatisfactory running, to disqualify the horse, but it may not be generally known that they are also empowered to select and order any rider or driver to try the horse. If this were done more frequently, I am sure there would be less in-and-out running. Such cases as I have mentioned would afford the stipendiary stewards a wide scope for their activities.

The result of their work should not be judged so much by the number of disqualifications or lesser punishments imposed, or the number of matters reported, but by the all-round general improvement of meetings. The stipendiary would keep a stricter supervision on the doings of the competitors, particularly the wrong-doers, who, with the fear instilled into them by the knowledge that they; were being shadowed by the stipendiaries, would refrain from carrying out their evil designs. The amount of salary suggested in the report that should be paid to the stewards would appear to me sufficient if the work that they Ttfould be expected to perform did not occupy all their time, and they were allowed to devote their spare time to outside work. However, 1 do not wish, to say anything further on this subject, except that I think that our sport has in recent years made such rapid progress that it has, to a great extent, outgrown the present system of control. If we are to have stipendiaries they must be experts, thoroughly capable and strong-minded Men whose integrity is at all doubted, arfd who cannot command respect and obedience, should not receive the slightest consideration. I consider that, as this matter is one arising out of last year's business, sufficient notice has been given to proceed with it under the ryles should the principle be affirmed.

Last year I touched upon a matter of class trotting. After many years of racing in one particular groove, the time has now surely arrived when some of the leading clubs could reasonably start out with something*new in the shape of a strictly class race or two. The present class events are all right as far as they go, but it seems to me we have been standing still and making no progress in this direction. I feel sure that the initiation of class racing or short limit racing would be a successful venture for the strong clubs to embark upon, and not only would the events be looked upon with favour by owners, but it would be welcomed by all lovers of our sport. For years past we have advocated a change, but thus far it has never been acted upon.

Conforming to the usual custom, some rough statistics follow which deal with the operations of the clubs during tfie

season, copies of which are placed before you:—

35 57 440 £53,315 £43,026 As seen by these figures, the total prize-money given away by the combined clubs is £53,315. This, with approximately £6OOO subscribed by racing clubs which set aside part of their programmes for trotting events, makes all but £60,000 the sum total subscribed .to the utility horse during the year. A comparison with last year's figures will show an increase of about £IO,OOO on the part of trotting clubs. I am sure that these clubs, all of which raised their stakes, may be congratulated on their continued prosperity. STIPENDIARY STEWARDS. After discussion it was decided that the appointment of stipendiary stewards be not gone on with at present.

tn 5t0' u .9 S tn a> o cU h DJ Pi Trotting Club. .a in «W O tn n M <? o "t> © a> a! o S3 £ fH N.Z. Metropolitan 4 9 72 £16,665 £13,685 Forbury Park £ 6 48 7,375 6,720 Auckland 3 7 56 '7,370 5,370 Canterbury Pk. 2 4 32 4,530 3,750 New Brighton 2 4 32 3,615 2,555 Otahuhu 4 32 3,080 2,145 Greymouth ., 4 32 2,405 2,285 Ashburton .. 2 2 15 2,050 1,580 Westport . 1 2 16 1,000 800 Gore .. . > 1 1 8 900 685 Wanganui 1 2 14 600 500 Hutt "Valley .. 1 1 8 535 455 Sth. Wairarapa 1 1 7 500 400 Oamaru .. 1 1 7 500 360 Nelson ... .. 1 1 7 450 300 Inangahua .. 1 1 8 360 S05 Marlborough .. 1 1 7 300 235 Southland .. 1 7 255 255 Manawatu .. 1 1 7 245 205 Poverty Bay . . 1 1 6 190 65 "Westland ... 1 1 6 135 130 Wintoii .> . 1 1 6 130 130 Granity .. > • 1 1 7 125 100 Waikato .. ... — — — * 61