THE LABOUR DAY DATE.

Thames Star, Volume LXI, Issue 16940, 2 August 1927, Page 6

THE LABOUR DAY DATE.

RIGHTFUL PLACE FOR HUNTS. VIEWS OF OTAGO WRITER, The matter of the destination of the Labour Day date, previously held by the Waikato Hunt and granted by the delegates at'the New Zealand Racing Conference to the Waikato Racing Club, has not been finally decided. The position now' rests with the Minister of Internal Affairs ,Hon. R. F. Bollard) to whom the dates of the various meetings are submitted for totalisator licenses. The following opinion on the subject, as expressed by the wellknown racing authority “Sentinel,’ of the Otago Daily Times and the Otago Witness, will be read with interest. “Sentinel” states: — Everyone must recognise that

it is the paramount duty of the Racing Conference to assist as far as it possible can the welfare of the sport under its control. Let it, be said at the outset that the Racing Conference has brought racing in New Zealand to a very high plane indeed. It lias not reached the pitch of perfection, but it certainly is open to no less objection than what seems to be the case in other parts of the world. The Racing Conference has eliminated the proprietary interest, and in doing so conferred an unestimable benefit on the sport. The Racing Conference has to primarily study the interests of the sport under its control, and lienee it acts well within its powers when an order gooes out that the tail should no longer wag the dog. In other words, racing must come first and hunting afterwards. The Waikato Hunt Club has grown to a very financial position, in common with many other hunt clubs, as the guests of racing clubs, and in some cases at the expense of racing, because they . have secured dates in the season which do no£ rightly belong to them. It is doubtful if there is a single hunt club in New Zealand which has a track of its own. They hold their race meetings on tracks provided ■by the racing clubs, and although in cases ranking as paying guests the fact remains that they receive full possession and privilege of temporarily occupying a fullyequipped racecourse *to which they did not contribute a penny towards construction, or hold any liability in the heavy debt which hangs over some of our racing clubs. The majority of the hunt clubs, it is true, seem quite content to make use of a racecourse on any suitable date that does not clash with the fixtures or interests of the club, but there are others to whom they are indebted for hospitality. It is understood that the Waikato Racing Club stands saddled with very heavy debts and liabilities, whilst the Waikato Hunt Club holds cash of about

£6OOO, and' is looking for investments for its surplus capital, whilst -the Racing Club is struggling to keep afloat in a sea of taxation and general difficulties. If the situation is looked at frorn a sporting and also a logical point of view, it must be granted that racing comes first and the sport which it maintains a matter of secondary consideration. The rac-

ing public now maintains hunting, in which they, speaking generally, do not participate. Formerly hunting in New Zealand had a somewhat precarious existence, but the right to use racing permits and also to include trotting events on their programmes has placed them in affluence, principally because they obtained the right to

use a racecourse, sometimes free

of charge and sometimes contributing a mere bagatelle (paid for by the public) in the way of rent. The most regrettable thing about the matter is an apparent; attempt to use political influence as a lever to allow the tail to wag the dog. Hunting ranks as one of the finest sports in the world, and 'it

is to be hoped that it will always remain under the sway and control of sportsmen who would

strongly resent any suggestion that their hobby-horse should be kept alive on political oats or on oats which rightly belong to the racing stable.