COURSING CHATTER.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume II, Issue 94, 12 May 1892, Page 2

COURSING CHATTER.

coursing fixtures. May 13.14 —May Cup and St. Leger (Dunedin) June 10, 11 —Forbury Cup and Juvenile Stakes (Dunedin) July 7,8, 9 —Grand National Cup and Bracelet (Dunedin) Aug. 18, 19, 20 —Champion Stakes, Maiden Stakes, Sapling Stakes (Dunedin) Nominations. June I—Dunedin Plumpton Forbury Meeting June 29 —Dunedin Plumpton Cup Meeting Aug. B—Dunedin Plumpton Champion Meeting Acceptances, Sweeps, Etc. June B—Dunedin Plumpton Forbury Meeting July s—Dunedin Plumpton Cup Meeting Aug. 16 —Dunedin Plumpton Champion Meeting

! By Contango. 7

In the last issue of the Sporting Review “ Old Turfite ” writes that the A.R.C. Committee contemplate making their beautiful racecourse suitable for the requirement of of a Plumpton, but he lidicules the idea, and says the ground is not at all suitable. Well, when he commences writing in such a high-toned manner, I have come to the conclusion that he knows as

much about the suitability of the Ellerslie racecourse as a Plumpton as I do about New Zealand’s gigantic bird the moa. He says again that there will be a great amount of fencing to be done, but to those that know as to the state of the boundary fences in connection with our racecourse, his statement is very misleading as a great part of the course is already hareproof, and the inside oval is already fenced and only requires the wire to be nailed on to make it the most perfect coursing track in the colonies. Now as for the poaching business I am glad to say that sporting people of New Zealand are not so restricted by the game laws in force that they would take the risk of breaking into an enclosed park to commit such an unsportsmanlike act (as “ Old Turfite” refers to), and lam sure the A.R.C. can rest assured that the people of Auckland are not given to poaching as a livelihood, and are not likely to molest in that way. He says that the late lamented “ Robinhood ” wrote in one of his clever articles that few lovers of the leash could tolerate enclosed coursing. No doubt all genuine lovers of coursing like it in the open best, but as the world has advanced in all things, so it has in the coursing arena. And the public must be studied even in coursing matters as well as any other sport. And as for Plumptons being a failure in the Old Country, he is greatly mistaken, especially when he mentions Gosforth Park. This park has been extinct for some time, not on account of the Plumpton part of it, as there were other sports in connection with Gosforth which help to cause its downfall. I may tell him that the most successful park in the Old Country is Haydock Park, where Plumpton coursing is carried on in great style. And again, within a radius often miles from Belfast in Ireland, there are two flourishing enclosed coursing parks, namely, at Holestone in the County of Antrim, and at Purdysburn in the County of Down, where real good meetings are held alternately during the coursing season. Now, in regard to Colonial Plumptons, they are, as far as coursing is concerned, all that the most exact courser could wish for. with the exception of the late Papatoitoi failure, which was a place that never was suited for the purpose. But with such a grand course as Ellerslie, and all its natural and modern advantages, a Plumpton established at Ellerslie would soon become both popular and profitable. With regard to the cruelty, with which he connects the enclosed system of being the most cruel of cruel sports “ Old Turfite” will find, if he only takes the trouble to look up some of the last year’s account of the meetings held at Melbourne or Dunedin, that as far as mortality in hares it is less than in the open. Now as to the origin of the Plumpton system he is entirely at sea, as the first introduction to the coursing public of this new style of coursing was started as a commercial speculation in the year 1877 by a Mr. Case on his farm, known as Plumpton, in the neighbourhood of Brighton, hence the name of Plumpton, so commonly given to all enclosed coursing parks Most of these places I have seen, and I most emphatically say that the Ellerslie racecourse is a long way better adapted for the above-mentioned purposes than any I have yet seen, and I think before one condems a thing he is undoubtedly ignorant of, he should take time and study the enclosed coursing system before he opens his spleen on such a honest pastime, and one that is greatly followed up by those who cannot afford to keep a racehorse. And as to any obstruction that a Plumpton at Ellerslie would cause to the training of horses is simply absurd as I am sure the appearance of a hare or the wire netting would iu no way interfere with the trainers and their calling. In conclusion, I may say training is carried on at Dunedin as usual, and as yet I have never heard of any complaint being laid against the requirements used in connection with the Plumpton carried on so successfully by the Dunedin Jockey Club.

Mr. D. Brown, who is the compiler of “ The Greyhound Stud Book,” and also one of the greatest authorities on any thing relating to coursing, says, with reference to the charge of cruelty that has been raised against enclosed coursing: —“ I confess I do not see where it lies, as experience shows that a much larger percentage of hares escape under the new than the old system. They are carefully fed and carefully trained, so that when let loose they know their way, and are not so liable to be

knocked over as a hare unexpectedly started from his natural form.” Mtss Glendyne is dead. “Vindex,”of the London Sportsman, has the following from her owner (Mr. Dent): — “ I shed a honest tear over her; there was never a better, not even Fullerton.”