JOCKEYS' DISPUTE

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 210, 31 May 1920, Page 6

JOCKEYS' DISPUTE

SATURDAY'S CONFERENCE , DISCUSSION OF VARIOUS DEMANDS ■ i -The "presidept of the Racing Conferi , ence .(Sir George Clifford) recently stated !. ; that .lhe .wpiild be prepared to ineet rei': presentatives.of the jockeys in Welling- , i'ton - The invitation did not extend to j> tho Jockeys' Association. The confer- , — cnco, took placo at the offices of tho , /Wei Imgt'on- Racing Club on Saturday i ' morning, "and lasted for'more than three . hours. Messrs. A. Oliver, R. Hatch, W.-Bell, A. Reed, R, Reed and G. Copec; : stelce'Wre-the jockeys present. Mr.lt. Sellai's, 'secretary to the Racing Confer- \ ence;" also attended and acted as secre- ; toy- „ . , ■ As A. Oliver was' suffering from a relaxed throat, R/ Hatch was .-.spokesman for tho jockeys, and i'i thanking Sir George Clifford.

for meeting them he raised the ques- !' tion of an increase in riding fees. The ■jockeys asked for an all-round increase of 50 per cent, on all losing fees, arid i a flat lite of 5 per cent, on all wmi -iiing mounts, also on • place moneys "Vhon tho third prize amounts to J2IOO

or over. Sir George Clifford agreed to bring the ;• matter before tho Racing Conference, '' which sits.in July, and also to support

i T -The representative, of the jockeys .also 1 J argued in favour of increasing the minis' ■" mum weipflit to. 7st„ >and nlso of brins- ; ing in a rule to* make the top-weight ■ Vin a race carry ost. always, except in : the caso of two-year-olds. It was point- ; ed out that th's rule was in vogue in '' Sydney, and it wna claimed that it ..worked well. ' ' After a long discussion it wag agreed to' debate the matter at the Racing • Conference. i* The winter season was the next item. the riders asking that welter weights , . should be carried from May 1 (and not i ; June's as at present) till August 31. i". It. was 'agreed that the clubs should | be again circularised and asked not ' to postpone the starting time of races, nnd ; ; also that riders, after doing their prn'liminaries, should be? allowed to.return ■to the bird-cage as is the.caso now on r,:. -.most courses when the weather is wet. j The right of the jockeys to have an ad- . : vocate at all inquiries was stressed, and T , after discussion it wan allowed, providing the advocate be a licensed jockev. '■ All nrogramines in future are to liavo ! • a hurdle race or jumpers' flat-handicap i/ ' on them, and also one apprentices' race.

i THE ASSOCIATION'S VIEW. !' " Officers of. the Jockos' Association ' Etntc th.it they regard the conference as i ''non-representative. The iockeys who i : attended did'not represent the nssocin- ■ tion, which contains the majority of ? the jockeys. The executive of the «'s- *■ socijition believes that the proposals I ' discussed at the meeting on Saturday ' included som© of the claims, that _ had ' already been made by the association and that the Racing Conference ihad refused to consider.

" HON. E. MITCHELSON REPLIES TO <? MR. SHEATH By Telegraph—Prom a Correspondent. Auckland, May 29. Following is a copy of a letter sent bv the Hon. E. Mitchelson (chairman of ' the Auckland District Committee) to tho Prime Minister in Teply to the one forwarded by Mr. G; C. Sheath (secretary . of the" Jockevs'Association):— Sheath . . . lias forwarded to ' me'a copy of his letter to you,, of the 22nd inst., written by him in reply to . my letter to you of the 17th instant. As Mr. Sheatlv traverses the points raised in my letter and cmestions some of iin statements therein, I think it right that ~Xishould give some additional mforma- ' tion or explanation in reply to his assertions. - ' , "lii the':first place,' he invites explanation as to why only .three jockevs dealt with. If Mr. Sheath had carefully perused my letter he would 'have* noticed = that' I explained that the 'Auckland District Committee would only «deal "-'ivit}i offeiiding jockeys, whose licenses had been granted by _ such com- ' mlttee,. and that other offending jockeys would be' dealt with by other district committees who had granted their respective licenses. One jockey, M'Cor- . mack, has already'been suspended for a "(period-,by the Taranaki District Committee, and offers are being dealt with by the Wellington District Committee. As. far,,as I can gather those other jockeys to whom Mr. Sheath refers did not commit any offence untler the Rules of. Racing, as' they obtained the- consent of their .employers to their breach of their ;,ssga'gfiments,.,or, in other words, their ..employers released them from their obligations, and under tho circumstances ''scratched their horses. "Secondly. I, repeat my statement that the suspension had nothing whatever to 1 • do with * the' offending jockeys' Conner.tion r with''the'New Zealand Jockeys' Association. I invited any of the Labour • leaders to inquire into tho position dispassionately, but so far no person his • thoughts necessary to make such in- . quiries. Mr. Sheath questions as to • "whether the Rules of Racing have been : ,obserbed by the Ayqndale Jockey Club's, "stewards and the Auckland District Com-' v hiittee, and quotes portions of such rules .which are quite beside the ques/•■ition .'in "dispute. However, Mr. _ Sheath, . ' by 'his;contentions.' quite stultifies the '■action of his association in regard to (the suspensions, as it must be apparent to any. impartial person that if his contentions were sound the obvious course '".which a suspended jockey should }iave taken was to have appealed immediately to the Racing Conference against the de- ' cision of the District Committee as being contrary to" tho Eulcs of Racing. Had ' this, course, ten. followed and his contention found to be sound, the Racing ',Confei , ence"*mu3t have revoked the suspensions and reinstated the offending ' jockeys. The obvious conclusion is that ' Mr. Sheath knows that there is nothing in his contention: otherwise an appeal, such as'l have indicated, would have ... been lodged and proceeded with. '" "I do not deem it necessary to so ' into Mr. Sheath's argument of the cases .of tha offending jockeys, as these arguments were all adduced by the jockevs themselves before tho District Commit-

tee on the hearing of tho charges against them, and throw no new light on the

matter. Mr. Sheath questions my statement that 'the suspensions hnd nothing

to do with the actions of the jockeys 011 tHe first day of tho meeting (April 7).' It is quite true thnt the jockeys were charge'd by the . Avondalo Jockey Club with offences committed Qn April 7 as well_as on April 10, but the Auckland

"jjistfict Committee, on investigating the -fcharges, disallowed the charges of of;fencM alleged to have been committed On April 7,_ and found against tho jockeys only in _ respect of breaches and ■offences committed by them subsequent •to April 7. As regards Mr. Sheath's challenge to'me to deny that it was 'an absolute fact that if Mr. Hewitt had not approached the Avondale stewards on the first day, not one of the jockeys would have been suspended,' I give Mr. Sheath tho omphatic denial lie desires. ■ Tho suspensions were brought about solely on ncoount of action by the jockeys on the second day (April 10). As 'to what actuated the jockeys in their illadvised actim on that day, I cannot be expected tq furnish an answer, a 9 ' this must be best known to themselves.

"Mr. Sheath also desires information as to why representatives of jockeys were not allowed to attend the meeting of the committee. In reuly to him. I may etfltc that this is in accordance with custom, and tho committee were not disRosed to set aside this custom to meet le wishes of the offending jockeys. It ■may be. as well to point out that Mr. ■J l . Earl is an elected member of the Auckland District Committee, and (tie jockeys had the advantages of his able pel-vices in sifting the matter in disnute. He endeavoured to bring out in evidence all matters that were likely to be in favour of the iockeys, and In mitigation of their offences. In fact, some of the charges wero not sustained through the ■ cross-examination by Mr. Earl of witnesses brcmg'nt forward in support of tho same. At tie conclusion of tlio hcar- , jng of the charges, eaoh offending jockey

before he left tho committee room admitted frankly that lie had received a fair and impartial hearing. "It is unnecessary for me to traverso Mr. Sheath's statements_ regarding the reasons why his association have been compelled to invoke the assistance of the Labour organisations, except to state that his association have grossly misled and gulled these organisations a 9 to the truo position, and have been able to get them to accept his version as correct without making any attempts by inquiry or otherwise to verify tho eamo."