RACING MONOPOLY IN NEW ZEALAND.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1860, 20 September 1913, Page 13

RACING MONOPOLY IN NEW ZEALAND.

Sir, —It seems strango that in a democratic country like New Zealand such a state of affairs should be allowed to exist in our big centres as has been shown to be the case .in Auckland, where a select and exclusive Iwo hundred and fifty members hare the cool assurance to blackball the whole of the citizens of a citv containing a population of 1.05,600 t>c-op!e, from the of membership or a Jcokoy Club, not-

withstanding tlio fact Unit tlio whole of tlieir ruvenue is derived from tlio totalisator, which is supposed to bo run for tlio improvement of tlio horse (yet not a. single permit is held by a hunt club in this country). The workers, tlio tradespeople, in fact all sorts and 1 conditions, put their casli through the machine and so Keep tlio great sport of Icings and fools going. Who arc tlio people who benefit ? Look at the great purses won by a privileged few, socalled classic races lor weeds that can go fast for four or five furlongs with a littlo mannikin 011 their backs. Who, 1 ask, arc tlio controllers of this great spurt." Take Auckland, "Wellington, Christclmrch; what do we sec? A select committee of a few of tlio privileged class, who exercise .a monopoly of membership, who have the cool insolence to rest-riot their members to a select and chosen coterie, who usurp the- rights of the peoplo of this country. These are really tlio peoplo "who get great self-glorification out of the racing at the expense of the public. Look at Wellington, Auckland, Christcluirch, also take the great monopoly of other centres with tlieir fifteen to twenty days of racing and trotting in tlio year. The Racing Commission! Again the privileged class only represented. Take their finding. Look at our own district; compare Ot-aki and Ilorowhcnua, both centres of equal import-nice. Instead of dividing the sport between tlio two centres, ,a monopoly exists—four days Otaki, none Horowhenua. Then Palmerston North, Ashhurst, - another monopoly— Palmerston North live days; Ash--hurst, the largest stakes of any one-day meeting in New Zealand, wiped out. Again Bulls with Marton —what happened? Marton was given four days; Bulls lost theirs, but owing to tlio gross glaring injustice of this caso, Bulls was reinstated. Then comparo tho caso of I'ahiatua with Woodville; I'ahiatua, which had two days, lost both, and Woodville now lias four. Another caso of monopoly, also one of tlio most glaring cases of injustice'in this country. I'ahiatua, a district one of tho most fertile in tho Dominion, with a population of 10,000, with ono.-of tho best courses in the Dominion, has not any racing, while Woodville, .with ojtly a iittlc over 3000, has four davs. It is well known that big racing owners and monopolists do not want small meetings; what they want is out with small places, bunch' them all together, ma-ko big stakes, put on so-called classic events, for which only tho select, tho privileged few, can compote with any show of success. What aro wo coming to in this land of fair play and squaro deal? It seems that if wo wait ( a littlo longer wo will bo making a greater monopoly than ever, the privileged few who control tlio sport getting greater stakes for themselves out of tho wages of the toiler in the hig centres per medium of the "tote." _ Needless to point to tho fact that since seventeen little clubs have gone out. the machine has put through double tlio turnover. Just think of it I The Gaming Bill of the late Government has _ been tlio means of increasing gambling by 0110 hundred per cent. No wonder that tho metropolitan clubs arc- anxious to restrict their membership. Now is tho time for the people of this country to. take a few days from these greedy, grasping, selfish monopolists, the socalled metropolitan clubs. —I am, etc., STAYER. Paliiatua, .September 17,