N.Z. GAMING LEGISLATION.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLVIII, Issue 4, 24 July 1912, Page 5

N.Z. GAMING LEGISLATION.

VIEWS OF SIR G. CUFFORD. ILL-ADVISED AND HYSTERICAL. In the course of his address at the opening of the N.Z. Racing Conference the president (Sir George Clifford) dealt interestingly with the position which sport now occupies in this country. Referring to the Gaming Act of 1910, he said they had now had one complete season’s test of the ill-advised legislation, which so unduly restricted the days of racing within the Dominion. Even if they admitted that some few of the many racing clubs abused their trust, br failed to justify their existence, or were in undue proximity to neighbouring courses, no justification existed in this widely distributed and growing community for a cast-iron legislation curtailing the recreations of the people and preventing their legitimate expansion in proportion to increasing population. This hysteric law-making must finally result in depriving many country districts of an annual holiday, or in seriously injuring those greater meetings which were chiefly instrumental in encouraging the breeding of the best class of horses. He maintained New Zealand needed more racing and more weight-for-age contests of best class. *‘Crush down abuses with the firmest of hands/' he added, £, but do not involve in one common ruin the imperfections of a great industry and its undeniable advantages to the State.” This Conference had now met for 25 years, and he believed that it was not itself conscious of the extent of the reform it had, during that period, gradually but surely effected. The merest suspicion of proprietary interest- wuold now he regarded as shameful by any racing chib in the Dominion. The bookmaker, formerly predominant on the Turf, was no longer one of its supports, but lurked illegally on its outskirts, banished from the enclosures and plying a surreptitious trade to which could be traced the occasional downfall of an eminent jockey, or the suspicion which grows round an owner who is known to patronise it. Nowhere existed such freedom from the fundamental causes of decadence. Let New Zealand grasp an opportunity unique* in the history of the world for regulating its sports, and primarily that of horse-racing, in such fashion as m?.y satisfy the most sensitive conscience, and the most subtle code of honour. “Two classes of offence stand out for repression,*’ continued the president. ‘They are: First, attempts by owners or trainers to cheat handicappers and the public; second, conspiracies between jockeys and others to defraud. Not a tithe of the innuendoes spread broadcast by tongue and pen have truth in them: hut when they exist the first and most efficient preventive will spring from the effective suppression of the already illicit source of temptation; a second remedy which is only a palliative, is suggested in the appointment of stipendiary stewards; and these policemen of the Turf, if possessing the requisite know, ledge and force of character, may be a secondary help towards purging us of the perilous stuff which we so earnestly strive to eliminate. As to the second class of offence, resulting from dishonest combinations of jockeys and others, its suspected existence is in great measure attributable to the false mercy which has granted another and yet another chance to offenders and so wrought mischief to them and to the reputation of the entire body of deserving horsemen. For conclusive victory over these men. Attack the poisonous fruit at the very root of the tree. In passing, I may protest against the senseless prohibition of the publication of totalisator figures and dividends after the race. ”T cannot conclude without a word of commendation for the Sports Protection League.” added Sir George. ‘ It promises, with its huge membership, to be a bulwark of defence for all our sports and pastimes, against that surging intolerance which spies evil in the innocent recreations which are its best antidote The members’ subscriptions to the League will probably supply it with ample funds, but if more be needed I will ask your authority for a special levy for the purpose. Lovers of all legitimate sports must combine to defend themselves both by argument and by a bold political front, for in such a contest union is strength. It is a truism that the recreations of a nation are the making of its manhood, and no statesman worthy of

the name, would fail to foster racing as one of them. Not only is it a healthy out door relaxation, but it is the centre of a large industry, employing about 5.000 of our fellow citizens, it is a source of considerable revenue directly in taxation, and indirectly through the railways; the export of horses to Australia and India for racing and for military use, is a colonial asset; and, above all, if our defence scheme is to be duly organises! tbe blood of the thoroughbred must supply the essential endurance to our cavalry remounts. In combating the opponents of racing we arc challenging the most unpo t riotic and short sight* 1 of our fellow citizens, and playing no ignoble part in the service of a United British Empire.”