Sporting Review . . AND . . LICENSED VICTUALLERS' GAZETTE. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE WEEKLY STANDARD. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1895. THE RACING CONFERENCE AND OFFICIAL CALENDARS

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume VI, Issue 277, 14 November 1895, Page 6

Sporting Review . . AND . . LICENSED VICTUALLERS' GAZETTE. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE WEEKLY STANDARD. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1895. THE RACING CONFERENCE AND OFFICIAL CALENDARS

The Turf Parliament has held another session, and several very necessary racing reforms have been brought about ; but in one matter we must take decided exception to the action of the delegates who were entrusted with voting power on behalf of the various racing clubs. We refer to the action of the Conference in appointing a Christchurch journal as the official calendar for all clubs in New Zealand. To racing men throughout both islands this decision came as a decided shock, general surprise being expressed that a body of presumably independent men should have countenanced such a hole-in-the-corner move to place in the extortionate grasp of the Weekly Press a wholesale monopoly of the racing advertisements of both islands, and to compel struggling up-cduntry clubs to insert their programmes at a very serious charge in a journal that can be of no earthly use to them. In the first place, if a Change of this nature were - contemplated, one would imagine that due notice would be sent to the various clubs interested throughout New Zealand, and an expression of opinion obtained from the several organisations as to their ideas on such a serious innovation. But the very reverse was the case. Not a whisper beyond a bald notice of motion “that the Official Calendar be iffiprOved” was vouchsafed to the vari-

ous clubs or their delegates until ,the latter entered the Conference Chamber and found everything cut-and-dried, with this qne fact as the central figure in the alleged impromptu proposal —thateyery club in New Zealand, from metropolitans down to goldfieldg and back country holidays affairs, were forced to advertise in a paper that has as much interest in. their welfare as the man in the moon has in .the latest improvement in Safety bicycles A Committee, consisting of Messrs Stead, Jackson, » unter, and Cook, took charge of the calendar question, and reported to the Conference as follows :— 1. The Calendar shall be conducted as a separate sheet on similar lines to the Victoria Racing Club Calendar, and shall be published mouthy.. Jt shall be called “ The New Zealand Racing ' Calendar.” 2. It shall contain : — Important Notices ; Minutes of Proceedings of Conferences ; Racing Fixtures for the Season; List of Nominations for all Classical Events Closed; Results of Race Meetings ; Advertisements of Race Meetings to Come ; Full Lists of Register of Disqualifications, Change of Horse’s Name, Trainers (alphabetical), Jockeys (alphabetical), Apprentices (alphabetical), Owners’ Permits (alphabetical), Gentlemen Riders (alphabetical), Colours (alphabetical); The Unpaid Forfeit List. 3. Any matter to be inserted in the Official Calendar must be certified to by the secretary of a Metropolitan Club, except results of race meetings, which shall be furnished to the editor by each club within seven days of the meeting, and shall contain full particulars, including — Name of owner; colour, sex, pedigree, and age of horses ; weights, including overweight where carried; names of jockeys, amount of totalisator investment on each horse, amount of dividend on each horse, time of each race, total amount passed through totalisator. 4. All clubs using the totalisator must advertise their meeting at least once , in full in the Official Calendar—the charge for advertisements shall be at the rate of 4s per inch. 5. The secretary of the Metropolitan Club in whose district the Official Calendar is published shall have power to supervise the same. 6. If satisfactory terms can be arranged with the Christchurch Press Company, the Official Calendar shall be printed and published by that company. 7. In the event of any deficiency in the cost of publication, the same shall be borne pro rata to voting power by the Metropolitan Clubs.

Tt will be seen that although no preliminary notice was given of the movement the promoters had everything cut : add dried in very complete fashion. When the proposal was placed before the delegates, who could not have had an opportunity of ascertaining their club’s wishes in the matter, the voting went in its favour, the division called for by Mr E. W. Alison resulting as follows: —Ayes, 7 —Auckland C.C.’s, 2 ; Dunedin J.C., 3 ; Dunedin C.C.’s, 2. Noes, 18—Canterbury J.C., 3 ; Canterbury C.C.’s, 2 ; Hawke’s Bay J.C., 2; Hawke’s Bay C.C.’s, 2 ; Wanganui J.C., 2 ; Wanganui C.C.’s, 2 ; Wellington R.C., 2 ; Wellington C C.’s, 2; Taranaki J.C, 1. The Auckland Racing Club did not vote'. Both Mr Alison, who spoke for the Auckland country clubs, and Mr Miller, representing the Dunedin Jockey Club, strongly urged that adequate time should be given for the consideration of such a decided innovation, but with most indecent haste the question was forced to the vote. Mr Alison \pointed out that the voting was insufficient according to Subsection 11. of Rule 193, which read as follows : —

All resolutions adopted at the Conference shall take effect without i-eference to individual clubs, provided that such' resolutions shall have been agreed to by not less than three-fouijths of the > total voting power present. !

That rule very plainly stamped the resolution as informal, and provided for the laying of the. proposal before the individual clubs of both islands. But, strange to say, the Chairman, ’Sir Geo. Clifford, calmly ignored the Rules of Racing, and declared the motion carried, in spite of Mr Alison’s objection. We take leave to question very much Sir G-eo. Clifford’s ruling, which is in striking contrast to one given by last year’s Chairman (the Hon. J. D. Ormond), when the District Racing Committee Scheme was laid before delegates. On that occasion the resolution in favour of sudh scheme was carried by 21 to 8, but the Hon. G. McLean contended that under Rule 193 (as quoted above) the motion was lost, and asked for the Chairman’s ruling, which was as follows: “These resolutions have been passed, but they do not take effect until, they have been referred to the whole of the clubs in New Zealand, and the opportunity has been given to those clubs to intimate to the Conference that they have received such notices.” In face of that ruling we ask why in the name of common sense and consistency, was Mr Alison’s objection overlooked by Sir Geo.

■Clifford at last week’s Conference. According to that very explicit rule (No. 193) of the. Racing Regulations we assert the resolution giving the Weekly Press a monopoly of the official calendars, is informal and not worth the paper it is writtenon. We quite recognise the desirability from the Christchurch paper’s point of view of such a monopoly being allowed to come into existence, but the interests of the racing public in the far North and extreme South cannot be served by such a state of things coming to pass, and much as we admire the astute judgment of our contemporary and its friendly wire-pullers we regret that in the interests of racing we cannot support the-pretty little scheme so artfully worked at the recent Conference. What benefit will accrue to country clubs in the Auckland and Otago provinces by the the insertion of their programmes in a Christchurch paper ? Take Takapuna and Avondale for instance, the programme for which are at times passed by the Auckland Racing Club a fortnight prior to the day of racing. Why, by the time the programmes were forwarded to Christchurch, printed in the Press, and circulated in Auckland, the meeting would be a thing of the past.

It’s a very nice thing, truly, to force such clubs as the Thames Jockey Club to advertise in a paper, the geographical position of which makes it impossible for it to give the shadow of a return for the money charged for the insertion of advertisements. So much for the North.

Then take the South. What earthly benefit can be obtained by the Taieri, Roxburgh, and Tuapeka Clubs advertising in a paper whose circulation and interest fades into insignificance as soon as the Canterbury Plains are left behind ? And

why should struggling racing organisations be forced to bolster up a newspaper proprietary that has about as much interest in them as a corpulent spider has in the withered frames of the flies that fed his passing hunger ? The quid, pro quo the Press could give the clubs we have mentioned, in return for their advertisements at 4s per inch, would be on a par with that extended by the corpulent spider to the aforesaid flies. Country clubs are. not stalking about with overflowing money bags seeking for press-gangs to relieve them of their superfluous coin. We would also ask, how many racing men

at the extreme ends of the colony see the Press ? Very few indeed, and why then should it have a monopoly of the racing

advertisements in the colony ? Why not give it to the Australasian, which has a recognised circulation in the North Island ? Surely such papers as the Otago' Witness, N.Z. Mail, and the Sporting Review are worthy of some consideration. They claim to be as well conducted and as popular with the racing public as the Weekly Press. Then again, if it were found necessary to print and publish an official calendar for this colony, similar to the Victorian Calendar, would it not have been a fairer way to have given every newspaper office in the colony an opportunity of tendering for the work. Dr. Newman considered that the terms offered by the Press company were excellent. Did Dr. Newman or Mr Stead ascertain whether there were other journals in the colony willing to give them two pages for nothing in order to obtain the monopoly of racing advertisements ? We intend to have this matter thoroughly ventilated, and an expression of opinion obtained from the racing public of New Zealand, and we are confident that when the facts are placed clearly before the delegates they will recognise the injustice done to the many racing clubs not overburdened with funds, and the sporting journals of the colony which have

always endeavoured to faithfully promote the interests of all true sport. It can only be a matter of time for this resolution to be rescinded, and we ask the cooperation of all those who are of our opinion. The principal point for present consideration is the fact that the resolution passed at the Conference is informal.