AUCKLAND COURSING CLUB

Observer, Volume XVI, Issue 911, 13 June 1896, Page 15

AUCKLAND COURSING CLUB

Tee July Meetiag of the Auckland Coursing Club will be continued next Saturday. This fixture has occurred at a happy date, catching, as it does, a whole host of Southern sportsmen, whose chief visiting cause has been the Grand National Meeting at Ellerslie. Amongst them is a fair sprinkling of genuine coursing enthusiasts, whose interests are keener in the direction of hare and hounds than cap and jacket. Amongst them are coursing men from Napier, where the sport was started last season, and is already fast growing in popularity amongst the public there. The meeting of the A.C.C., now on, and of which next Saturday's sport is a continuation, is the second of the Auckland season. On Saturday, the finals for the Challenge Stakes will be decided, and, as tbe dogs competing will be of the best class, some really good sport can with certainty be assured.

' Slip's ' notes in a weekly contemporary anent the judging at Avondale coursing last month were somewhat caustic. 80 far as ' Slip's ' expressed opinion on the vagueness of the points in judging are concerned, I will not dispute he may be right ; but it is hardly fair to localise the system, making it appear as though this originated with the Avondale Club. The mode of counting points scored by dogs in coursing is one which has been in use for years in England, and a recognised mode by all Coursing Clnbs in the Old Country. Hard and fast rules could hardly be attempted at cours ing ; if they were, then fairnesß to the doc/s, in the point of true merit, would seldom be awarded. The discretionary powers with which judges are invested render it eßsent?al that, for the well-being of the sport, conscientious and c apable men shoxild be appointed to the office. Mr Barr, in my opinion, Has both these qualities, which embrace all that is necessary. To say he is too careful is in itself a compliment, whether intended or otherwise. A judge is not to calculate on the chances of dogs for future courses but to determine on the present one. He must deliver his judgment in accordance with his opinion, without fear or favour, either of owners, trainers, or even club officials.