Club’s Doctor Resigns Over Royal Meeting

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31003, 8 March 1966, Page 18

Club’s Doctor Resigns Over Royal Meeting

(New Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND, March 7. The Mayor of Hamilton, Dr. D. Rogers, has resigned as honorary surgeon to the Waikato Racing Club because of its decision not to hold a Royal race meeting on Monday, May 2. for the Queen Mother.

He told the club’s committee in a letter received tonight that the action of the dub in declining to hold the meeting left him no alternative but to resign his honorary appointment.

The resignation was accepted without comment. The club had been eager to accept the invitation to hold the meeting provided it could obtain a permit for an extra day’s racing. The Racing Conference would not grant the permit and the club’s committee was not prepared to give up a day of its winter meeting the most important meeting on the club’s calendar. The club believed attendance at the proposed Monday meeting would have been small and the financial loss considerable.

The Royal race meeting will now be held at Ellerslie on Tuesday, May 3. Dr. Rogers said tonight that he was shocked at the decision of the Waikato Racing Chib not to hold a Royal meeting. Because of the decision the Hamilton City Council had been forced to cancel its plan to bring 60.000 children to Hamilton to see the Queen mother at Seddon Park. The council had intended to co-operate with the South Auckland Education Board and to subsidise the transport of the children.

The cottnal's parks and reserves department had gone to a great deal of effort and expense to ensure that the city gardens along the route to the racecourse were attractively planted. “In these times it is most important that young people should get the right impressions and when the opportunity arises for them to see members of the Royal Family everything should be done to make this possible.” Dr. Rogers said. “I have always believed that a Royal request is a Royal command,” said Dr Rogers. “It should be obeyed without question.”