Page image

H.—22

40

out of the city and came into our district, hence the reason for the courses being so close to one another. However, our meeting is purely a country meeting, ami includes trotting events in its programme, and caters for an entirely different class of people to a town club. The permit was taken from us by the Racing Commission under the legislation of 1910. By the Deputation. —We would point out that the fences round the track have been taken away to enable the course to he ploughed, but they will lie re-erected when the new grass is laid down. We have a, credit balance of about £800. This club was rapidly going ahead when if lost its permit. It is our misfortune but not our fault that the Wingatui course is so close. We were here long before the Otago Jockey Club shifted to this district. Ours is quite a, different meeting to the big Dunedin meeting. Ours is a picnic meeting, which is attended by farmers and people who never go to another meeting. Another advantage of this meeting is that it gives the young people and farmers who breed horses in the district an opportunity to try them. We feed the big clubs. We were just about to purchase this property when our permit was taken away. Our lease lapsed when the permit was withdrawn, but we can gel a renewal for another ten years. There is no better track than this in New Zealand, when it, is in order, to keep horses sound. We can train here in the winter when horses cannot train at Wingatui or anywhere else. We had every convenience here for the public when our permit was withdrawn. Maniototo Jockey Club. The headquarters of the club are at Naseby. The club was formed in 1868. and is registered. The last meeting was held in May, 1914. The circumference of the course is 8 furlongs. The course is held under a twenty-one-years lease from the Crown. The lease was granted in 1907. The buildings on the grounds consist of grandstand, booth, public luncheon-room, stewards' luncheon-room, handicapper's room, weighing-room, jockeys' room, secretary's room, and totalizator-house. The straight of Ihe course is fenced on both sides for a distance of about 7 chains. A list of the present members of the club and a copy of the last balance-sheet have been forwarded. The nearest dub using the totalizator is the Vincent Jockey Club, forty miles distant, and the nearest club not using the totalizator is the Ranfurly Racing Club, nine miles distant. This club has conducted race meetings here regularly since 1868. For many years two meetings were held in the year, a one-day' meeting in November and a two-days meeting in February. We lost our totalizator permit, as a result of the report of the Racing Commission set up in 1910. Since then this club has held hack meetings which have been well supported by the local public. We think for these reasons we should be granted a permit. By the Deputation. —Since we lost our permit the course has been allowed to go into a state of disrepair. Naseby as a centre has gone down because mining has gone down, but the district around Nasebv has gone ahead. Of course, Naseby is distant from the railway-line, and it may be found advisable in the future if racing is conducted here to shift nearer to the railway. Our meetings when we had the permit were always successful. We have had horses racing here that have afterwards won the Dunedin Cup and Great Autumn Handicap. We have also bred very good horses in this district, but we are away in the backblocks, and any one wishing to raoe them has to go to Dunedin. There are many people here who cannot afford to go to Dunedin. so if we do not get a permit they will never see a race meeting at all. When we raced we always hail a race on our programme for locally bred horses. For that reason the people at Black's favour our application. We used to have many people in the district who bred for the local races only, but since we lost our permit there has been no breeding at all. Last year not one thoroughbred horse travelled the district. Our racing was always conducted on the best lines. Tf a permit is granted to us we will undertake to put our course and appointments in proper order. We claim to have one of the best districts in New Zealand for breeding horses, and the advent of a totalizator meeting hero would do a groat deal to encourage the breeding of good horses, which are always a standby for military purposes. At present there is no racing permit between Black's and Waikouaiti, a distance of 130 miles. Our meeting was more or less a picnic for the surrounding thirty or forty miles. Bknqhebuen Jockey Club. The headquarters of the club are at Roxburgh. The club was formed under the name of the ''Roxburgh Jockey Club" in 1866. but in 1902 Ihe Ett rick Racing Club went defunel and the two amalgamated under the name of the " Bengerburn Jockey Club." The club is registered by the Racing Conference. The last meeting was held in March. 1914. Sixteen years ago the permit was lost, but the club holds its meeting annually. 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 8 furlongs 40 yards. The races are held on (lie club's course at Roxburgh East, which is a racecourse reserve vested in trustees. The accommodation consists of stewards' and secretary's room. booth, outhouses, he. The course was described by the recent Racing Commission as one of the best country courses in the Dominion. The course is not fenced on inside of I rack, bul should a totalizator permit be granted all Ihe necessary railings and buildings will be elected for the meeting on the 17th March. 1915. 'Ihe nearesl clubs using Ihe totalizator are al Beaunnnt. a distance of thirty miles, and at Cromwell, forty-five miles away. We are situated between the Beaumont and the Cromwell Clubs, and surrounded by a large district. Both these clubs have totalizator permits. We believe we are justly entitled to a permit, being one of those clubs deprived of such some years ago when a reduction was made in the number. We may state that had we a permit we should have a much larger membership, as there are numbers of men in the district who will not join through want of a totalizator. By the Deputation. —We would like to point out that between Miller's Flat. Coal Creek. Beaumont, and Roxburgh there is a population of fifteen hundred We are thirty miles away

Log in or create a Papers Past website account

Use your Papers Past website account to correct newspaper text.

By creating and using this account you agree to our terms of use.

Log in with RealMe®

If you’ve used a RealMe login somewhere else, you can use it here too. If you don’t already have a username and password, just click Log in and you can choose to create one.


Log in again to continue your work

Your session has expired.

Log in again with RealMe®


Alert