RACING PERMITS

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2177, 17 June 1914, Page 8

RACING PERMITS

—___< _. THE DEMAND FOR RESTORATION : CARTERTON'S HARD LOT DEPUTATION/TO HON. 11. D. BELL The demalid[foi' // restoration of tho totalisator permits of which country racing clubs were deprived by the Racing Commission was revived by a numerous deputation representing the Taratahi-Carterton Racing Club and settlers and-. townspeople of the district, which interviewed the Hon. H. D. Bell (Minister of Internal Affairs), yesterday. . - Sir Walter Buchanan, M.P., who.introduced .the'-deputation, • said that .it represented the settlors of the district as well as the Racing Club. He liad no wish to raise the question of country versus town, but tho Minister would bo able .to see the state of feeling in tho : district concerned from tho fact that these gentlemen had got up pretty early that morning, in weather that was not at all''agreeable, to. "put their case before him. They considered, and had considered for a'long time, that they had been very seriously wronged, and that an-injustice was committed against thein by the report of the famous commission: which: was appointed, not by tho present Government—ho did net wint'to raise tho Government question at all—but by. the".late Government, and visited various ..racecourses,, arid those managing -them; throughout- the Dominion. Amongst other places thoy visited the Wairarapa district. Their'visit was made at short notice, and thoy took 'their departure after a "very brief examination of the local position. As country people, especially, knew, the result of the commission'wis' to 'give' additions to others'who already had great - deal,''while taking away from those who hid very little—as in the case of the, Taratahi-Carterton Racing Club. The commission deprived- this particular club of one of its; two racing . days in tho. year,, and:it- might as well, practically, have taken away both days, foj with only, one -day ■ left to it the club was looking failure in the face. In'one 'important, respect-'the club was iu a • different'. position: to' any other that lie knew of.. • It had bought the freehold of its racing ground, and its declared intention, was that, asi soon as the financial, position made it possible, the ground could be handed over for the free use of. the people of the. district as a recreation ground.* This would be a very great advantage. : For instance, those who engaged in a sport which today was. well-nigh' universal —golf—had' hunted all over the district-for a suitable ground, aiid" could not get it. If tho Racing Club went to the wall it would be unable te carry, out its original laudable purpose, and golfing and other 1 interests would suffer severely. Ho was sure that the present Government' was in sympathy with the disabilities that in many attached to country residents —difficulties'tliat were resulting in increased, populations in the towns at 'the expenso of the country districts. These districts..had never been so fully' represented-in his time as in. the present Parliament-, and . they looked to the present. Government to seo, as far, as fairness would permit, that justice was done to the country, districts. What ■ had happened during the last, two sessions of Parliament was proof that the desire of the present Government lay intliis direction., ■ i.'i i,U ■"• <■ flo&n/iO'M : '-"The Commission and the :Law. Mr. H. R. : Bunny (president of the Placing Club) said that tho position of .tho club was such'that it had not much to spare and as Sir Walter Buchanan had stated, its.object was to endow the public of'Carterton for all time with a recreation ground) with tho single exception, that the'.club should have tho use of the ground on its racing days. Ho, submitted "that the Commission had gone outside "the law which created it and which said, that clubs conducting one race meeting -in the year should receive preference. Now the club was like a rooster '>with one leg, hopping abqut,and trying to pick up a precarious subsistence, and they hoped that tho Ministry .would make such legal arrangements as I 'would enable them to get' back-their' one day. Members of the club were not out for any-personal benefit;, biit foC-the sake of- tho sport thoy all lovedji and in addition to that they wished to give the people of Car,terton, a. recreation; ground. At present' the .club'-"was entirely dependent uponyfirie- weather on it« one racing day and under these conditions could just make'things :'pay.'

• Mr, Bell: What is the amount of your principal stake?

The' answer' was that the amount was £150. -It was,' £200 previous to the loss of a racing day. . Mr. Bell: That is pretty good evidence that the'loss of a day does not mako for finance.

Mr. H. H., Walters said that: the club ■ hgd purchased,tho ground subject to an ; existing :mortgage, which" it wished to pay off, and hand the ground over to the public free pf charge... He did not wish 'to'reflect iupon the commission', but it had been instructed to give, considfcration to clubs that had only one .meeting in the yeai\ His own opinion was. that the. cltib could not exist on one day, and would have to be wound up. It .had often been complimented 'upon its splendid appointments and arrangements for tho convenience of visitors, and the ambition of the club had been to eventually get two meetings in the year.' Under existing conditions, with only a single one-day meeting, it was simply a gamble wit-It-the weather. '.'Mr'.' Bell: What is the amount of tho mortgage on the course? , - Mr. '• Walters replied that' it was £1900 and in addition there was an overdraft at the bank. With a two-, day meeting they had anticipated gradually. extinguishing, that liability, but at the hands of the commission tile l club had received loft-handed consideration. , Mr. W. R.'Roydhouse, spoke from the point of view of the townspeople of Carterton,. and said that tho existing recreation grounds were of limited area and that if they could get a reservo of one hundred acres in the neighbourhood of the town, it.would be a very-great advantage indeed. A Unique Petition. Mr. W. Howard Booth said that although tho cltib liad not been in existence for forty years, racijig had commenced upon-its course just about forty years ago. The area of the ground was 101 acres, and it carried' a grandstand arid a.stewards' stand,,both nearly now and 1 erected, the former at a cost of £1300 and the latter at a cost of £1500. There -wero also other necessary buildings. - Of- t-ho' mortgage of £1900, a sum of £1600-was guaranteed by the stewards at the bank. The property was .right on the railway, about two hurilred yards from the station, and had two frontages on 'principal roads. It would probably realise on tho market about £4000.' He claimed that their petition was unique in that no other racing club in New Zealand was racing under these conditions: that a mortgage should bo paid off, making the property unencumbered freehold, and that' it should then bo handed over to the town as a recreation ground or park. Tlio request of the deputation was strongly supported by Mr. S. Skelley and Dr. R. M. Gumi, the latter of whom emphasised the value of tlio ground as a recreation "area, and'.as a golf links.- Tho Carterton Golf Club, lie said, had 65 members, and if tho racing club were forced to dispose of

this property, the golf club could not continue to exist. MINISTER'S DIFFICULT TASK. LIMITATIONS' STATED. "I wouui like to clear the ground first," said tho Minister when ho came to reply. "You know that, as the law now stands, tho Minister whose loot is in this hornet's nest cannot give a license to a club-without taking a license from another. Wherever I go in the country—l- do not travel very much, but wherever I go.—lam always takeii to tho racecourse, except in places where they have as much as they think they are ever likely to have 111 places where thoy liavo. been deprived of licenses I am taken to the racecourse: and shown what a serious loss the district is suffering. I am not one of thoso who object to racing or object to the totalisator, and so far I ■liavo Very great, sympathy with.what has 1 been put before me. lam showing you that" in overy district throughout the country, where racing days have been lost, the same grievance, exists—perhaps not to 'the same extent'as in- your ease—and tho request that you make is made. Carterton." tho Minister went on to remark laughingly,' "has* an unfair advantage in this way—that when I.became Minister Sir Walter Buchanan took me by-the throat —; —".. Deputationists: Quito right V (Laughter.) The Minister: And he worried me so that I very nearly made him a promise, but, of course, I recognised that that would not bo fair, and that I had to consider all cases. I therefore did make inquiries about Carterton and other places, and I knew pretty well all that you have told me to-day, except the amount-of the mortgage." The Minister went on to state that his .inquiries had satisfied him'that Carterton was in the very front rank of people with a. grievance in this matter," He had dealt with' past history so that they might see that an appeal to him to specially consider, Carterton had already been made and very • effectively made. .To go back to the point from which lie had started lie could not give their district a license with taking, one away from, another, district. A totalisator license,' once granted,..was like the license of. a. publichouse. Expenditure was made in consequence of" the tonure of tho license and other arrangements wero made in consequence of its possession. Except for : very grave reasons they could see tho danger and unfairness of saying to a.club:'"You have got to part with a license because another club has a better right to it than you." , "ThaC< is, the case," continued the Minister, "in Carterton you havo a better right than another club, but , to say to another club.'that it must, on that-'account, part wilh a license is a , matter of almost inextricable difficulty." Mr. Bell went on to remark that he was a supporter ,of Mr. Hunter's Bill (to increase tho number of permits for the benefit of- country clubs), and so was Sir Walter Buchanan, but ho (tho Minister) looked' with fear upon, what was going to happen to him personally, if it became his duty to allocate additional permits. It was in this way only that.ho. could meet the request of the deputation—if power were given himto grant additional totalisator permits; Carterton was in the very first line- of clubs to be considered. He was not suro that there was much in the-golf argument, for' golf was played on other racecourses, but as a racing club they had a real grievance, and he would do bis best to remedy it—subject always to the limitation he had stated: that in order to be' fair to them ho would not do an unfairness to some other club.

, Deputationists: Hear, hear! and "We recognise that." •, , , 1 Sir Walter Buehal4^ ll^W'!W«l''.! 't'lioV Minister for tho candid, straight-out answer ho had given. .