31

H.—22

By the Deputation. —We consider we were not fairly dealt with by the previous Commission. Our club has been racing for twenty-one years, and we are very largely a country club. It has been very well patronized, and all who have attended our meetings have been very well satisfied with the sport we have given them. We spent a great deal of money in purchasing the freehold of the present course, and, we have made one of the best galloping-tracks for a country- club in New Zealand. We have always used our best endeavours to keep the sport clean. We have had three race meetings without a permit, and the fact that the meetings have been successful points clearly to the fact that the racing public in our vicinity and outside the district hold our view that our club should not have been deprived of its permit. We first started on a leasehold course, on which we expended £1,200. Then the stewards came to the conclusion that if we wanted an up-to-date course it was desirable to secure a freehold, and that was done. So practically our expenditure of £1,200 was lost to us. Our new course was very heavy bush country, and we had expended £3,390 in putting it in a state of repair when we lost the permit. We really were not given a chance to see the previous Commission. Last year the district exported £300,000 worth of produce, which shows that we can support a good club. We gave £1,150 in stakes on two days, and we always got the best officials we could. Our course is really the only recreation-ground in the district. All our heavy expenditure was incurred in preparing the course, and we really think we lost our permit through making an effort to get an extra up-to-date racecourse, and through taking the view that buildings are only a secondary matter which can be improved from year to year. Those responsible for racing here guaranteed £2,400 at the bank, and in addition we owe a considerable amount on debentures. The previous Commission suggested an amalgamation with the Woodville Club, but at the same time they took away any basis on which we could approach the Woodville Club. Woodville had four days' racing, and still have it. We could offer them nothing. Therefore the Commission's suggestion was impracticable. No opportunity was afforded us to meet the late Commission and put our case before them. Lower Valley Jockey Club. The headquarters of the club are at Martinborough. The club was formed about 1874, and is registered. The last meeting was held in September, 1910. A list of the present members of the club and a copy of the last balance-sheet have been forwarded. The circumference of the course is about 8 furlongs. The tenure is freehold. The course is fenced both inside and outside. The nearest clubs using the totalizator are about eleven miles distant. There are no clubs in the Wairarapa not using the totalizator. We may state that our club was, up to the withdrawal of its permit, the oldest jockey club in the Wairarapa, having held races continuously for over forty years. It was considered a gala day by the population spread over the wide area of scattered country in the Lower Valley, as well as by the people of the Township of Martinborough. The property on which our club held its last meeting is a freehold one, having been purchased about twenty years back. The area consists of some 101 acres, on which the club at the time of purchase raised a loan of £650 from the Advances to Settlers Office. This loan is now greatly reduced by repayments on the instalment system. Tn fencing, planting, laying down the racingtrack, and erection of grandstand, stalls, totalizator, and other necessary buildings, &c, a floating overdraft was incurred which at the time of our losing the permit by the reduction imposed by Parliament stood at over £700. So that the property, which was then valued at £2,500, should not be permanently lost to the district and Town of Martinborough, a successful attempt was made by the club's executive and friends, largely assisted by Mr. John Martin, to pay off the floating overdraft by way of voluntary donations. When this was accomplished the property was vested in trustees for the benefit of the people of the district for all time, with a particular reservation to the Lower Valley Jockey Club that should at any time a permit be available the club have free use of the property for the purpose of holding race meetings. At the time of the withdrawal of permit our membership exceeded 150, which at the present time could he greatly increased on account of the very large increase of population, in the Martinborough district. In the past we have catered considerably for hunters, as will be seen by the programme attached, and it is our intention to go on on the same lines in the future should our claims meet with your approval. By the Deputation. —lt is five years since we lost our permit, and that accounts for the condition of our buildings. The debt at present on the course is the loan originally raised under the Advances to Settlers Act, and the payment for interest and sinking fund is about £35 a year. The property is let for grazing purposes, and the rent is about sufficient to pay the interest', but it has left us nothing for maintenance. This has always been a " horsey " district. The annual meeting here until the permit was taken away was more of a social gathering than anything else. We have a big scope of hack country right away to the sea. People came many miles to attend this meeting, and it was considered a great hardship by the settlers outback especially to be deprived after so many years of our permit. Our meetings were always conducted in a proper way. The population in the district is not a very numerous one, but the character of the district is such that the population is bound to grow. The people here are a sporting community. Should a permit be granted, we have no hesitation in saving that the people of the Lower Valley will rise to the occasion, and that what is dilapidation and decay will give wav to a rejuvenation of the course. Waitara Racing Club. The club was formed thirty-five years ago, and for some little time raced without a totalizator permit. It is registered, and the last meeting was held in December, 1910. Owing to the fact that the club lost its permit it naturally became moribund, having practical.lv no status quo, and from that time the membership matter has not been pursued: but in the usual course of events