MR CHAS, A. CLARKE.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XII, Issue 708, 1 October 1903, Page 13

MR CHAS, A. CLARKE.

Mr Charles A. Clarke, whose portrait appears in this issue, is the secretary of the Rotorua Jockey Club, having held that position for five years. He was a member of the club in the early days when the racecourse was where the town is now, the grandstand occupying the site of the present Presbyterian Church. In those days Maori hacks were wont to be raced for sundry bags of flour, eugar, or possibly a pair of boots. The jockeys were barefooted Maori bays, who rode to a finish, often nearly finishing themselves and their horses, to say nothing of officials and spectators who happened to be within twenty yards of the winning post. All is changed nowadays, everything being done on up-to-date linesi

Mr Clarke has resided in Rotorua for the last twenty years, going there when Ohinemutu constituted the township, the site of the present one being then but a mass of ti-tree. He has had a long association with football, holding at various periods the offices! of Captain, Secretary, and Treasurer to the local club for many years. An old pupil of the late Joe Warbrick, he represented Tauranga for fifteen years in the matches against Auckland. 71 collision with Mr Fred Murray, the present selector of football teams, gave Mr Clarke a bad knee, which caused his retirement from the Rugby arena. Mr Clarke has taken a leading part in athletic and <iquatic sports, and is also secretary and treasurer to the local School Committee, and secretary for the Volunteer Corps, being indjeed a man of many parts. He is personally very popular with everyone who knows him, and the unanimous opinion of these is that the sporting folk of Rotorua are under a deep obligation to Mr Clarke for the loyal service he has always ungrudgingly given them.