THE CLUBMAN.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1163, 25 July 1912, Page 4

THE CLUBMAN.

The Racing Conference this year was remarkable in several respects. The delegates met to discuss a lengthy agenda paper and transacted their business with dispatch; but the ■outstanding feature of the Conference was the decision-to confirm the principle of employing stipendiary stewards to safeguard the sport of racing against malpractices. The Hon. O. Samuel, of the Taranaki Jockey Club, stood sponsor to the resolution which eventuated in the first Stipendiary Stewards’ Committee being set up to arrange the details necessary to carry the proposal into effect. It is still somewhat problematical whether stipendiaries Will actually be appointed to act before the 1913-14 racing season. In view, however, of the strong feeling that prevails throughout the country the Committee will doubtless expedite matters so that the coming .season (which opens next month) will he ushered in under the new order of things. * * * * Thiis important resolution passed ■hy the Conference provides for the appointment of two or more stipendiary stewards, and substitute stipendiary stewards in the event of the permanent officials not being able to attend any race meeting. This, of course, leaves it entirely at the discretion of the Committee to decide the number of paid stewards they will appoint, and doubtless the number will be determined in the first instance by the estimated cost, which is to be provided by a percentage not to exceed one-eighth of the gross amounts received by totalisator clubs based on the takings of the season now closing. sfc « ❖ * The general opinion of delegates attending the Conference was that five stipendiaries would probably be appointed for the whole Dominion, three to represent the North and two the South Island. This would probably cost somewhere between £3OOO and £3500 annually, on the basis of £5OO a year to each steward, besides allowing £l5O to £2OO for travelling expenses and contingencies. In this connection it may be mentioned that the Australian Jockey Club are advertising for three stipendiary stewards at salaries of £6OO each. * * * * The success or otherwise of the new scheme must to a very large extent depend on the class of men selec-

ted to carry out the duties of paid stewards. There will douotless be several hundred sportsmen in New Zealand who may consider themselves fully qualified to act in the fiduciary capacity, but we anticipate that if the Committee receive applications from all these people they will still have a very serious and responsible task to perform before the appointments are made. To be a successful stipendiary steward a man must possess an unimpeachable record for honesty and straight dealing; he must also be a good judge of a horse and of pace; a critical observer of detail, and have an expert knowledge of the multifarious intricacies of racing from a trainer’s and jockey’s point of view, besides being well versed in the devices of “punters.” Above all he must be a man of clear and quick judgment incapable of being swayed by influence or sentiment. How many such men are there? We answer remarkably few. But unless the Committee can secure men who can be classed under this severe standard, their appointment is not likely to improve the sport or purge it of the malpractices that are so often —sometimes without justice —held to its discredit. ik v V Some of the country clubs have alreadjr raised their voices against the cost that will fall on them in defraying the expenses of stipendiary stewards, but when the matter is sifted it is palpable to the most casual observer that this wail is puerile, because it is the country clubs that are in most need of the protection that stipendiary stewards are expected to afford. We say this in no derogatory way, as we are well aware that country club officials, generally speaking, are as zealous and anxious to ensure clean racing as are their confreres of the Metropolitan Clubs, but the lack of experience is unquestionably a serious barrier to efficiency in this respect. It is only the man who has the opportunity of following particular horses and jockeys round a number of country meetings that is able to fairly apprise the genuineness of individual efforts. Consequently we make bold to declare that the country clubs will derive most benefit from the appointment of stipendiaries and will pay least for their service. : i : One of the greatest arguments our “friends the enemy”—the wowser fraternity—have put forward against

the sport of racing in the past has been the dubious fact that such numbers of wasters follow the sport in the form of impecunious punters, guessers and speilers, who apparently look to racing as their sole means of dodging gaol for vagrancy. If these parasites of a noble sport can be exterminated it would indeed be the salvation of racing. We look forward with sanguine expectations to the presence Of stipendiary stewards to achieve this purpose to a very substantial extent, prodided, of course, that the right class of men are entrusted with the onerous and exacting duties. # ❖ We naturally sympathise with country clubs, and for the matter of that, with all racing clubs, at the additional cost that has been placed upon them in having to suffer a further deduction from their receipts to provide the money to pay for the stipendiary stewards, because small as the oneeighth per cent, on gross totalisator takings may be, it is a further curtailment of the meagre margin of profit still open to clubs. It has been suggested that the Government should provide the necessary money out of the taxation exacted from racing clubs, or in the form of a special subsidy. This, however, does not commend itself to us, because it is not desirable that the Government should have any further direct relationship with the sport of racing than it already has. No other sport has suffered so much from political interference than has racing. Sportsmen are thoroughly competent and entitled to manage racing as is a parson to manage his Sunday school sports or a woman her raffles at a bazaar. It would be a mistake to ask the Government for any concession or subsidy to defray the cost of stipendiary stewards. * as * * The extra cost the appointment of stipendiary stewards will entail could however be made a cogent argument fore the Government for an alteration in the scheme of taxation thrust on the racing public. It is quite absurd that the Government should collect from the racing clubs two and a-half per cent of the gross, returns of the clubs, excluding only nomination fees and members’ subscriptions. To any intelligent person it must appear unfair that the gate and stand takings, the returns from the sale of privi-

leges and programmes, and all other sources of income should be subjected to taxation, any more than should the takings at a football match, theatrical entertainment, picture show, boxing contest , charity concert, or church bazaar. Surely if the Government wish to treat the sporting section of the community equitably, and not unnecessarily harrass the smaller clubs, they should be prepared to exempt from taxation all sources of income save the totalisator, which is a form of taxation that is borne either directly or indirectly by all who take part in or patronise the sport of racing, and would be accepted with equanimity by all sections of the community. v * * Everyone interested in the protection of the sport of horse racing should not only unite under the banner of the Sports Protection League to save it from the pernicious interference of the wowser fraternity, but they should also stubbornly resist the sport becoming a plaything of political extremists, who are endeavouring to bring the sport more and more under Government control, so that ultimately it may become a pawn in the political game. For a quarter of a century now the governing body of racing in this country has been the Racing Conference, and it is only necessary to quote the words of Sir George Clifford, in his presidential address this year, to appreciate what the sport owes to the zealous sportsmen who have, year after year, met to make and amend the rules of racing, and guide the individual clubs in the management of their affairs, to appreciate what NewZealand owes to these men. These are Sir George’s words: —“This conference has now met for 25 years, and I believe that it is not itself conscious of the extent of the reform it has, during that period, gradually but surely effected. Its early career was a strenuous struggle against almost forgotten evils of long standing, while it had to smooth over jealousies which sprang from the inevitable surrender of local privileges. In time the advantages of concentrated control became too manifest for resistance. Small differences gave way to large aims, and delegates lent cordial cooperation in the fight against the influences most detrimental to pure sport.”