NEW ZEALAND RACING CONFERENCE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXVI, Issue 18532, 14 July 1922, Page 8

NEW ZEALAND RACING CONFERENCE

PRESIDENT’S REPORT. The annual conference of the N.Z. Racing Clubs commenced ' at Wellington yesterday morning, when the President, Sir G. Clifford, Bart., presented the following report for the 1921-22 season: Since we last met in Conference two matters of grave importance have to be recorded. The one which should have ranked as our greatest auxiliary in the improvement of the Turf was the Report of the Gaming Commission of 1921. The second was the imposition of a burden of Taxation which threatens the very existence of many of our Racing Clubs. The Parliament of the Dominion bears the responsibility of non-acceptance of the Report, and is also blameworthy in regard to the extraordinary diversity of taxation which ingenuity lias devised for our spoliation. The latter offence may more easily be pardoned, as its effect is temporary in difficult times, relief is already promised, and its exaggerated stringency must eventually work its own cure. The rejection of the Report was, however, a calamity, which there seems no prospect of rectifying. Great expectations were raised by the appointment of so competent a Commission, and they were more than realised when it presented a masterly, well-reasoned, and fearless report. It winnowed the wheat from the chaff w’ith a restrained justice, which met the. approbation of all unprejudiced opinion. This Conference, the legitimate voice of the racing community, almost unanimously (31 to 4) expressed its approval, and urged the acceptance by the Legislature of the Commission’s recommendations. It is not too much to say that the result was resented by all the racing world except by the few who allowed petty interests to outweigh the general good. What we now claim is that renewed consideration be officially given to each iltem of this masterpiece of suggested reform, and that it be not thus hastily thrust aside in obedience to the energetic clamous of so small a minority of interested opponents.

Still \iore extraordinary than the suppression o£ the Report is the acquiescence of those Clubs which were directly or indirectly charged with irregular conduct. No attempt at vindication has been proffered. I have no pre-judgment to pronounce, but I do say that it is the duty of such Clubs to clear themselves from these charges, if false, or wipe away the inherent abuses resulting from them if true. No club should rest silently under serious imputations. There is a written and unwritten law in the realm of sport which cannot be safely disregarded. Passing to the question of taxation I -will confine myself to figures, which tell their'own tale without comment:

This is a load which not only impoverishes Clubs directly; it injures them also by its discouragement of the owners, whose support is essential to their healthy existence. What we petition for is lenience to the weak, that they may escape from impending destruction, and an entire removal of all oppressive burdens as soon as the exigencies of the State permit it. Many of these forms of taxation, which lesson rather than increase revenue, could at once be judiciously abandoned. The year has been made memorable by our first experience of the system of Racecourse Inspectors. We were fortunate in securing as Inspectors men excellently adapted to the work of clearing our courses from the scum which discredited them —the type which follows as a hunting ground every crowd whether assembled for business or pleasure or prayer. Their success is already undeniable, and the service to the community as well as to the orderly frequenters of our pastime is well recognised not only by ourselves but by the authorities whose task is to check crime.

The Trustees of the Accident Fund have had to meet unusually heavy claims of late, and, despite the Reserve Fund, which fortunately had accumulated, it may be necessary to restore the leas to their original amount. The decision as to this will rest with the Conference. In this connection owners, to secure safety, should be careful to pay the Accident Fee before the horse is weighed out. The mere undertaking of an Official to debit it to an owner’s account is of no effect, and the disqualification of a recent winner after an appeal to the Conference should be a warning against negligence in this respect. Strict observance of so vital a Rule is an obvious necessity. The same caution applies to the Rule requiring a written authority from the owner for the validity of entries and acceptances by an agent. If neglect to conform to Rules, which are so essential, brought punishment to the negligent owner alone, we might regard his penalties with equanimity, but it is due to the public that owners should be cognisant of all dangers of this kind, involving possible loss to others. In short, every owner and trainer should read the Rules carefully once and again. Do they? If all did so, the omission to notify

Clubs of interests requiring the bracketing of horses on the Totalisator would not occur. The offending owner would realise that he is liable for all direct or indirect losses, possibly very heavy, occasioned thereby.

Excepting for the falling off in Totalisator returns the racing season now ending has passed without exceptional incidents on the Racecourse. A few appeals have settled some disputed points, and we are indebted to Sir William Herries, Messrs. W. E. Bidwell, A. Boyle, John Grigg, H. Lowry, P. Miller, H. A. Russell, aud O. S. Watkins for their services in these hearings. Ambulances have been more generally provided, though a few Clubs are still deficient in an equipment, the absence of which should invalidate their permits. The work of the Racing Conference has considerably increased, and with it the volume of daily correspondence needing attention. lu order more clearly to appreciate the organising ability of our Secretary and his energetic devotion to his work it would be well for members' to visit the office, aud investigate its methods, the voluminous compilation of records and statistics, the administrative details of the Accident Fund, of the Forfeit List, of the Stipendiary Stewards’ Itinerary, and much else which needs minute supervision. The toil of the office would be much simplified if the promptness with which most Secretaries deal with routine returns and general correspondence were imitated by the few whose negligence and thoughtlessness continually hamper us. This was noticeable even in the preparation of such important papers as jockeys' applications for their licenses in an incomplete state.

Sir Edwin Mitchelson's Gaming Act Amendment Bill of last Session unfortunately was stranded in the hurried final rush of business after it had passed through the Legislative Council. This misadventure probably cost us three of the benefits it aimed at bestowing. I may refer to them now to keep alive the recognition of their utility, and, as a call upon our friends, to make every effort to remedy the previous failure. First, in order to combat the evil of street bookmaking, we desire permission to the public to transmit money for investment upon the Totalisator to Secretaries of Racing Clubs. Let the investor escape from the limited prices and the barred horses of the vendors of odds, who contribute no revenue to the State or to the sport. Give the average sportsman all the advantages of the indisputable honesty of the Official Totalisator. The law at present debars the Bookmaker from following his trade; it is illogical to leave open to him the practical monopoly of it beyond the precincts’ of the racecourse. Secondly, we point out, as we have so often done, the absurdity of prohibiting publication of dividends. This statutory folly assists the breaker of the law; it serves no good purpose in its irritation of law-abiding citizens; and it reaches its climax when newspapers are forbidden to tell us at what price Captain Cuttle won the Epsom Derby. Thirdly, the lost Bill provided for a Double Totalisator when Clubs desire to instal that special machine. This, too, was a step to better protection for the public who desire the full rate of odds for the moderate investor, with the certainty that the picked investment will not be refused. May it not be long before these reasonable requests are conceded.

It is thirty-seven years since the foundation of this Conference was laid, and thirty-one years since it took its present shape with joint representation of Metropolitan and Country Clubs. The spirit which has animated its proceedings has been throughout a desire to elevate and purify the sport of racing; to render it a pastime which the great majority of its followers may pursue as an innocent and healthful recreation both of mind and body. Those who are old enough to compare the present with the past can well realise how many abuses and malpractices have been abolished, and how difficult and perilous it now is to carry out successfully schemes of fraudulent intent. No country in the world has advanced further towards the elimination of such evils. The instigating cause of many of them, the bookmaker, is banished from our tracks. Our Clubs are now bound to devote their profits and resources to their own improvement, and not to dividends for eager shareholders; and if we be not forced by mistaken legisltion to surrender what had been gained by our unremitting efforts during a third of a century, New Zealand may still be credited with a racing organization! unexampled elsewhere in its freedom from discrediting influences.

Of all tried methods of making tea the most unattractive, was the method at one time followed in China. Mr Okakura Kakuzo says in his “Book of Tea” that as early as the fourth century of the present era tea was highly prized by the Chinese for “relieving fatigue, delighting the soul, strengthening the will and repairing the eyesight.” The Taoists claimed it as an important ingredient in the exilir of immortality, and the Buddhists used it to prevent drowsiness during their long hours of meditation. But at this stage of history it must have been fine, confused drinking, for it was boiled with rice, ginger, salt, orange or lemon peel, and, horrible to relate, sometimes onions! The Russians, who learned to make tea from the Chinese, still retain the slice of lemon.

Two French scientists of highest standing explain in Paris the possibility of injecting new cells into the muscles, lengthening life to 150 years at least —-so they hope. That would be good. Something better would be an injection into the brain, to make it live more by doing more. A turtle from the Galipagos Islands lives four or five hundred years. It lives altogether less than Beethoven lived in an hour when he, stone deaf, unable to hear a sound from the orihestra, conducted his great work, of Which he never heard a note except in his own magnificent brain. How much you live, not how long you live, is what counts.

£ s. d. Totalisaq or Tax 150,694 15 5 Dividend Tax 222,772 7 0 Fractions .. T. 9.939 1 9 8 Stakes Tax . . . . 34,553 11 0 Tax on Receipts . . 4,140 18 6 Amusement Tax . . 12,750 8 5 Land Tax .. .. 2,332 8 6 Income Tax . . . . 21,149 13 6 Total . . . . 458,334 o 0 Local Rates Paid . 5,572 19 10 Grand Total 463,907 1 10