LATEST SPORTING.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 10926, 15 November 1913, Page 1

LATEST SPORTING.

SALE OF TROTTING STOCK. There was a lair attendance at the Metropolitan Trotting . Club's grounds this morning, when Messrs H. H&tson and Co. sold the trotting stock of Mr W. E. Simes, who was" recently elected a member of the Association. The following are the j''MileAV^-.v.-''''V-''~" ; ''-' : "V. IN TRAINING. ... ;-';-~~;-,v ; :. ./; ...: . .-q^ B m MTstic, by Albert. Victor—l/itUe ■Wonder 11., "Tyrs, Mir H. I. Simpson, Wanganui ... ... . 190 Ch m Lisca, by Rothschild—Tracyrnaid, 7yrs, Mi- M. Brennan, Western Australia ....... 30 Bi Claribel, by Proud Child-Citation, •iyrs, Mr H. I. Simpson, Wangaaui 80 B-f law Chimes, by Abbey Bells—Jewel's Heiress, 4yrs, Mr H. I. Simpson, Wanganui * . . . . . 100 Ch g.- 801 l Car, ,by Bellman—Carmen, Mr "Brennan, Western Australia . 85 B m Lodi, by Rothschild—Espanita No bid BROOD MARES. B m Patchwork, by Berlin—The Imp, Mr B; .Edwards ' . . . .23 B in lietrydale, by Lauderdale—Letty, with foal at foot by Rothschild, Mr . R. Rutherford, Dunedin . . . ,20 B m Ham, by Kentucky Lily, Mr H. j Stringfellow, ..Asubrjrfon . . .43 - «.. I ' lingfon—Miss Harewood, Mr M. Cooney, Morven . . . . .00 ; YOUNG STOCK. Ch t Kashmiri,, by Harold Dillon—Ardzigulari '3'yr's, Mr R. AY. 'ffranks, Sockburn . . . . . id B c Moidialloo, by WiLtowwood—Sunbeam, 3yrs, Mr Breonan, "Western Australia 36 Ch f Mosaic, by Driftwood, 3yrs, Mr J. * Jarden . . . . ' • .27 B f Lady - Burlinfrton, by Lord Elmo— Miss, Burlington, 2yrs, Mr T. Hit- ■ chie, Dunedin . . . . .26 B f Men tone, by Abbey Bells—-I/odi, . 3yrs, Mr H. ,t Simpson. 'Wanganui 110 B c-Prince, Patch, by Prince Imperial —Patchwork, 3yrs, Mr H, I. Simpson Waszanui . . ' . ." 140 CHIEF TORY WHIP. VTh.7 the Position Is Taken. (By T. P. O'CONNOR, in the Chicago •'Tribune.") It is always hard to understand how any member of Parliament accepts the duty of a "Whip. It is a highly <in> portant office, and its duties are hard and almost menial. At the exit door of the inner lobby of the House of Commons there are two benches, and either ou t or beside the benches there arc the Whips. The Whips of the party in power, of course, have to bo more regular in attendance than the Whips of the Opposition. The Opposition may attend or not, but the ministerial party has always to keep its majority present, because a defeat in the division may mean we end of the. Ministry. Occasionally, therefore, .you see the bench of the Opposition vacant,..but never the bench of the ministerial party, unless the business before the House is something in which, the ministry is not interested, mid when, therefore, it does not matter to it in which lobby the majority finds itself. The work has to be divided, of course; one Whip takes an hour, then ho is succeeded by the nest, and so on throughout all the hours of the day and night. It is exactly like the service of the sentry outside barracks. KEEPS TAB ON MEMBERS.' • The Whip . standing . there surveys carefully every member who is leaving tho House, and never allows one to pass, if he l>a a supporter of the Government, without asking him. where lie is going, or if lie has paired, which, of course, makes his absence innocuous by killing a man and a vote for the time being on the other side; or the Whip tells the member-at what hours the division is expected and begs him to bo back riot later. Tho hour usually mentioned in tho big debates is half-past ten, and the division usually takes place between half-past and eleven. It will be seen that this is a laborious and, as I have said, almost menial duty. It resembles for all the world tho position of the porter who admits tho visitor into the halls of the great. Why. then, do men take it? And why men in particular who apparently have everything the world has to bestow ? I have seen the position held by Lord Derby before ho went to the House of Lords and when ho was still Lord Stanley. Lord Derby dates _ back his family to distinguished positions for centuries. It figures conspicuously in Shakespeare. His old borne of Stanley is in the most effective passage of Walter Scott's " Marmion/' His possessions aro gigantic. Ho owns the greater part of the land in some of the most prosperous towns which have grown up in Lancashire. Yet hs was willing to discharge these menial duties. EVERYONE IN POLITICS. The secret is that everybody in England takes part in politics and prizes political distinction more than" any other prize in tho world. Unless ,'a mau has conspicuous gilts he has to ascend the ladder of official promotion slowly. And usually also has to begin at the bottom rung. A whipshin is nearly always the first step on " tho official ladder. There is another example at the pro-

_«» / i sent moment of the extraordinary^value "' "_ placed on this humble position!"" The, ;\ chief Whip of tho Tory Party is Lord -< Edmond Talbot. Ho is the brother of . -; th o Duko of Norfolk, who stands'in ,- tho first place among the English'; 1 " nobility. He is hereditary earl .mar-»\,,' shall, which means that he- Kas_ tne,, ; '. right to superintena all the. great \\' functions of "Stafe, from the' CorondP- * > tion to tho burial of tho Sovereign, aiid '' ( anything else that calls the, nation to- -y; a solemn manifestation. ~ S\ ; ""' He is rich and has in his reins' tlie' ' blood of all the Howards, and,yet W,/' was proud to get tho office of , chief -';; Whip to tho Tory Party. '.'-,■' V WHIPS DECIDE BATTLES. \ '-- Apart from the reason I hare. {!;iven v - ', the duties of the Whips aro sufficiently r j important to justify almost any politician in coveting -tho office. The, /'. 'Whips, after all, have tho last word in deciding tho fate of the parliament- •■ arv battles. Tlioy have tho duty,'of / petting up their men when the-decfe "(» sivo hour comes; and if they\iios;lpcv,;-';: or mismanage their duties f 1£; is lost, and is lost even when'tho aiinis- ,)' try has p. big majority, andwljeri th<>;jj' country is mainly in.its favmir. '*\ ' '•' '» Y Tile telephone and/tiio" taxVcfflßSfcc. irade the duties of the Whips a little -,-j easier than they were in the days, he- ,-, r foie the.so things existed. the time when the hansom cab was ~j ouJv Mip'ins of conveyance, and when It J requited thirty minutes to'iget an.ah-"' 1 sent member who can now be got.in ~ ten. ' ' ' "„"' v ■ GIVES TELEPHONE NUMBER! \ J A conscientious member, when j going aw a\,, gives to the WT)ip, ( tH© ' telephone number of tho place to whicji he is going, so that he may be 6UI1)- ' moned promptly in case a sudden emergency should arise. , ■_!- The members who, drive tho Whips mad are tho.-e who slip off without tolling tho Whins, but they are ,few in these strenuous times. For erery case _ of slackness there are many cases of extraordinary self-sacrifice. ' I have over and over again soon men coming to divisions who had to b© taken through the lobbies in, hath chairs or leaning on tho arms of their ;' friends. Whon the Tories uiade their great) effort at a snap division on tho night of Wednesday. July 30," five Tories concealed themselves in one of* the bathrooms. ' ■ The terrace, which lias become 'a popular institution for teas and other festivities in my time,, is also a standing danger, for men get through to the terrace without passing through the door of the inner lobby, and, therefore, their presence is not noted even by the most watchful Whips. This was how Joseph Chamberlain organised tho snap division on cordit*, - which got out the Hoscbory Ministry in 1895, and it was on tho ierraco ihaC tho Tories had arrayed a con.sidor.nble proportion of their foree,s for the snap of Julv 3U.

There was a strange case of bringing a man to an important division. -Ho was insane, and had been lor some time in a lunatic asylum. But things were critical, and it was resolved that he should be taken out for the division. Tho unfortunate man bad no idea of where ho was or vhal he w,is doing, but two stalwart friends held him by the arms and managed to get him through, the divisiou lobby and pass the_ tellers.' The vote,: however, wns criticised tho next day, and it i\as disallowed.

OLD WAV OF RKSIGXIXG.

In tho old days there was only one method of resigning a .>-<vit in the House of Commons, and tint was by accepting the Chiltern Hundreds. Th» Chiltern Hundreds in tho dim past was an office which received a salaryBoth tho office and the salary have-long ago disappeared, but the fiction lias been kept up, and, as the ■acceptance-, of an office of profit under the. Ciwji vacates a seat,' a member desiring to resign makes application to the Chancellor of tho. Exchequer for, tho stewardship, as it is of tho Chiltern Hundreds, is given it as a matter of course, and thus his seat is vacated.

In the Parliament of 1880, the first I ever was a member of, a Scotch member got so excited during the election that immediately after his.return ho went raving mad, and had to.be placed in an asylum.

Ho was not sane enough to sign the application for tho Chiltern Hundreds for the five long years the' Parliament lasted, and, during all these years his seat remained without a member. There was no way of getting him out. Tho law has since been changed. HAVE HAD HARDER WORK:

During tho Inst few years tho Whips have had harder work" than for many .rears past. Tliero is always a certain leakage in such a largo body of men as 670. Some are ill; some- are compelled to leavo by pressing business; somo aro indifferent to polities, being men of pleasure who have been forced into Parliament by the pressure of their friends. Some aro.disappointed— ' ' no life has fo many disappointments as' polities—and aro therefore uncortam'-in- \ their attendance. . ■ .''•••*• There is a member of the Opposition- ' in the prcsont House of Commons,who - for some reason has taken mnbraga - with'- his party, and has not been eoeu '• within its walls l for years. He refnsw . > to resign, or has bileiKinduced, not to* do so lest the seat should be l<>st.._ : -,:;