LICENSING RACECOURSES.

Globe, Volume XXI, Issue 1761, 11 October 1879, Page 3

LICENSING RACECOURSES.

The Timaru "Herald" learns that it is intended during the present session to introduce a Racecourse Licensing Act, based on an English Act passed a short time since. By the "latter a horse race is defined as " any race in whioh any horse' mare, or gelding shall run or be made to run in competition with any other horse, mare, or gelding, or against time, for any prize of what nature or kind soever, or for any bet or wager made or to be made in respect of any such horses, &c, or the riders thereof, and at which more than twenty persons shall be present." A license for horse racing can only be obtained by the owner, lessee, or ocoupier of the land where the race is proposed to be held, and application for the same must be made to the Licensing Magistrates for the district in whioh it is situated. Any horse-racing taking place in contravention of the Act is to be deemed a nuisance, and any person injured or inconvenienced thereby will have the same rights and remedies against persons taking part in racing, and against the owners, lessees, and occupiers of the land where the race is held, as he would have in the case of a nuisance at common law. A license for a horso-ruce will continue in force for a year only, and the penalty on owners or occupiers of ground where unlicensed horse-races take place is a fine of not lesß than £5 or more than £25, or in default imprisonment for not less than one month or more than three months. All persons taking part in an unlicensed horse-race will be liable to a penalty of £lO, or imprisonment for two months.