“DERBY COURSE IS A DISGRACE.”

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18640, 18 December 1928, Page 11

“DERBY COURSE IS A DISGRACE.”

HEALTH AUTHORITIES WOULD BAR IT HERE, SAYS MR A. I. RATTRAY. “The health authorities in New Zealand would not tolerate a racecourse in the condition that the Derby course in England is in.” That is the opinion of Mr A. I. Rattray, secretary of the New Zealand Metropolitan Trotting Club, who has just returned from a visit to England, where he had an opportunity of seeing this famous racecourse. Mr Rattray was not present on the course during a meeting—he saw only one small race meeting in Britain—but he was taken all over it by the caretaker. The enclosure, he said, was quite small. The inside stand was a hundred yards long and contained ten bays with steep concrete steps, which provided standing room. Seating accommodation was not provided. The outside stand was seventy yards long and was built in the same manner.

“They charge you 15s for about one and a half feet of space on the outside stand,” he said. “Inside they have the bays, for which you pay £4. There are three rows of boxes right up at the top, each capable of holding about eight people. You have to pay £IOO for these boxes, and they are very primitively made, with just rough timber. There is plenty of bar accommodation and plenty of accommodation for eating.

“Outside there is not the slightest thing provided in the way of public conveniences. In New Zealand such conditions would not be permitted. The sanitary arrangements are of the most primitive description, and the Health Authorities would not permit them in New Zealand on a racecourse for a moment.” The course, he said, was uneven, and after the finish they had only a couple of hundred yards in which to pull up. There was a highway right through the course. “Th.« trouble in England,” said Mr Rattray, “is that they are too cidfashioned. They are old in everything. There is too much of ‘what was good enough for grandfather is good enough for me.” Mr Rattray added that he did not see Ascot. “I believe,” he said, “that Ascot is better, but the Derby course is a disgrace.”