Sporting and Dramatic REVIEW AND LICENSED VICTUALLERS’ GAZETTE. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE WEEKLY STANDARD. Thursday, April 29, 1897 THE AUTUMN MEETING.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume VII, Issue 353, 29 April 1897, Page 4

Sporting and Dramatic REVIEW AND LICENSED VICTUALLERS’ GAZETTE. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE WEEKLY STANDARD. Thursday, April 29, 1897 THE AUTUMN MEETING.

The success of the late Autumn meeting of our metropolitan club must be gratifying to all lovers of horse racing, as well as to the Auckland Racing Club. Following so closely on the wonderful success of the Spring gatherings, that achieved at the Autumn meeting must be regarded by Mr Percival and his committee almost in the light of a triumph. The financial results, as indicated by the totalisator alone, seems to be satisfactory evidence of the increased prosperity of the colony and Auckland in particular. It is true that in mining matters we have lately experienced a depression, but in all other respects business appears to be thriving, and that is demonstrated by the fact that the totalisator receipts at the Autumn meeting were £3369greater than those of last year, and the fair deduction is that the general community is more prosperous than last year, and have so much more money to expend in other ways than upon the necessaries of life. It may be that some few speculate upon the totalisator who cannot afford to do so, but the great bulk of' totalisator money represents capital that is not required by the investor for business pursuits. In addition to the financial success the A.R.C. has another substantial reason for regarding the late meeting with satisfaction, for combined with the fact that the racing right through was excellent, it was entirely free from those suspicious circumstances that too frequently at race gatherings provoke the thought that something shady is

being done. After so much talk of turf scandals of late the purity of the racing at the late meeting was a relief, and this may in a measure be attributable to the knowledge that the committee of the Auckland Racing Club have recently given evidence that they are determined to get at the root of certain scandals that have occurred in the past. . With fair and equitable handicapping and a field of triers there are bound to be surprises, and this was shown at the late meeting, when a fair percentage of outsiders got home. There was nothing cut and dried about any of the races, and therefore good dividends were the rule. While the Auckland Club is to be congratulated on the success of their meeting, they are entitled to further warm praise for their liberal action in voting the sum of £IOO towards the Hawke’s Bay Flood Relief Fund. It was, we understand, proposed to hold a special meeting in aid of the Fund, but there was a chance that wet weather or something else might cause it to be a failure, and the club very wisely and generously determined to give the Napier sufferers £IOO out of their funds. Of course there are captious cavillers who already complain that the club had no right to vote its funds for such a purpose, but we venture to think that these critics will meet with but little sympathy.