Sporting and Dramatic REVIEW AND LICENSED VICTUALLERS' GAZETTE. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE WEEKLY STANDARD. Thursday, June 17, 1897. CRUSHING SPORT.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume VII, Issue 360, 17 June 1897, Page 4

Sporting and Dramatic REVIEW AND LICENSED VICTUALLERS' GAZETTE. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE WEEKLY STANDARD. Thursday, June 17, 1897. CRUSHING SPORT.

Among English sports coursing in the Old Land holds a leading position, and the English Waterloo Cup is an event which every year is looked forward to with much interest by honourable men, to whom the names of such great dogs as Master M’Grath, Fullerton, etc., are perfectly familiar. The sport for ages has been one that has proved highly enjoyable, but although in Australasia we Have adopted nearly all the games and pastimes of the Old World, the history of Colonial coursing has been so checkered that its extermination in New Zealand at least is seriously threatened. The time was when coursing in Australia was the great winter pastime, but the sport in those days had behind it such independent men as the late Sir W J Clarke and the Hon. Mr Gore, and, among many others, such upright men as Messrs. Percy Lamb, G. B. Rowley, R. J M’Culloch, Kelly, Peterson, Kenyon. Weir, and a host of others almost too numerous to mention. These men course!! for the true love of the sport, and when the best dog won. as it generally did, the owner was looked upon as a jolly good fellow, and was applauded for the victory his dog had gained. Tricky men, however, sneaked into the game, and then barefaced roguery had the effect of shouldering the honest man out of the sport, which languished and almost died. This year it has revived, and if the good men who are now at the head of coursing in Australia only profit by the experience of the past there will be no room for the low “ doggy” man in the future, and coursing as a pastime will live. The history of cours-

ing in New Zealand is pretty similar to the experiences of Australia, but unfortunately here we have not reached the turning point which discloses to view a moire healthy prospect for the sport. The June meeting of the Auckland Coursing Club, which was brought to a close last week, is not one which honest sporting men will recollect with feelings of pride. A sense of shame will surely be engendered by a perusal of the evidence taken by the committee of the Auckland Coursing Club, and' published elsewhere, but for the existing state of affairs the club can scarcely be held responsible. The revelations, however, at the enquiry were of a nature to cause honest men to back out of a sport unless some serious step is taken to purify it, and in that view of the case it does seem as if the committee has not gone far enough in its Through no fault of its own, the committee of the Auckland Club has met with a rebuff, but with the splendid Avondale Plumpton at its disposal, and by an exhibition of firmness in dealing with dishones crushers of the sport, there is no reason why coursing should not revive as it has done in Australia. What the Auckland Club now requires is the countenance and support of honest men of grit.