THE RACING CHANGES

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1163, 26 June 1911, Page 6

THE RACING CHANGES

PROTESTS BY CLUBS. THE RANGITIKEI CLUB'S POSITION. The Rangitikei R.C. has been severely hit by tho result of tho Racing Commission. The club during tho past three years has gone to great expense in connection with its new course and building improvements (says "Gcraint" in the "Manawatu Standard"). The position is that the club has 100 acres of land,' which cost ,£ISOO. Part of it has heen secured by the Rangitikei Polo Club and the balance is leased by tho club for seven years at ,£SO per annum. Upon this land the club owes about .£3OOO, .£2680 mortgage and .£2OO of bank overdraft, for which the officers of the club are severally and jointly liable. Interest charges total .£135 and the revenue is .£SO from the leased land. The club cannot realiso its property except subject to Jho lease, and if this course was pursued it is estimated that it would result in a personal loss 0f..£500 to each of the guarantors, a decidedly unpleasant position to be in. Mr. J. G. Wilson, who will have the distinction of being tho last president of the oldest club on this coast, considers that the club should bo allowed, at least, ono more meeting in order to place its affairs in a better state.

Complaints and protests aro also voiced by Ashhurst and Horowhonua R.C. members, which have been knocked out by the commission. In connection with the latter club's position, tho Horowhonua "Chronicle" considers that when the commissions ruled it out they overlooked Section G Subsection 2 of the Gaming Amendment Act, wherein it is.provided that:

"In determining the clubs to which licenses shall bo granted, consideration shall bo given to the claims of those clubs which use the totalisator at one meeting only in any one year."

INDIGNATION AT WESTPORT. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) Westport, June 21. Much indignation prevails in this district over the recommendation of the Racing Commission that' the two days' racing privileges hitherto allowed Westport be taken away. Westport, though it is the main coal port of the Dominion handling the third largest .shipping tonnage, is classed with the small upcountry towns. It is regarded as the height of absurdity to deny to Westport (behind- which are I'hc main coal mines of tho Dominion) the privileges that are granted to places which, by comparison, are insignificant. Geographically, the conditions liavo apparently never been considered by the commission in making its recommendation for, whereas Reefton, Greymouth, Kumara, and Hokitika (with a .total of 11 days' privileges) arc all connected by railway, allowing people from all theso towns to attend with no great difficulty all eleven race meetings, Westport, on the other hand, .is completely isolated from other centres, of which Reefton is t'ho nearest, tho distances ranging from fifty to eighty miles from the various townships of this district. The decision of the commission, if given effect to, means practically taking out a prohibition order, so far as races are concerned, against tho great' bulk of the people on this part of tho coast—a decision which seems so absurd that people hero fail to understand what the commission could have been thinking of. Possibly a commission, "which beat all previous travelling records in a motorcar," imagined that Westport residents were as happily situated in vehicular service as themselves, or they covered the ground between, the centres so rapidly as to lose all sight of distance in their calculations.