A CHANGE NEEDED.

Hastings Standard, Issue 77, 25 July 1896, Page 3

A CHANGE NEEDED.

(To the Editor.) Sir,—Your correspondent " Straight Out " evidently does not realise the truth of the time honored adage " Qw»l affimiatur ifratis, f/ratis ncfjatur for his fanatical epistle from beginning to end'consists of snorts, barks, childish cackle and rash accusations, without the slightest attempt to reason, or prove his unwarrantable attack on the publicans of Hastings. I would ask " Straight Out " how the publicans of Hastings are to -be affected to any appreciable extent by the change of the headquarters of the Hawke's Bay Jockey Club? The gentlemen thereof I am sure will not be flattered by the inference. Abuse is not argument, nor can jour bigoted correspondent hope to increase the popularity of the party which evidently finds favor with him by such blackguardly Billingsgate effusions as his last contribution. I am of opinion that the headquarters of the club should be in Hastings, and anyone who has any knowledge of the difficulties encountered by owners and trainers in getting in their acceptances last meeting, must, I contend, be of the same opinion. I, being used to working the telephone, was asked by several owners to ascertain the weights immediately they came out, and rang up the Criterion Hotel for the purpose, but owing to contacts on the wire, experienced the greatest difficulty in getting anything intelligible through. In despair, the owners asked me to accept " on the blind I asked for the Secretary, but he declined, I was informed, to come to the machine, so that the acceptances were given to tl*e clerk at the hotel (a lady, if I remember aright), and reached the secretary in a more or less mutilated form. Not, I would have you understand, through any fault of the clerk, who indeed surrised me with her patience and courtesy in endeavoring to take my messages correctly. Now, if the meetings were held in Hastings, Jio such trouble could arise, and I maintain that the fact of one hotelkeeper being possibly benefited to a alight extent therefrom is bat poor argument

against the change, which, I contend, is urgently needed. Should your correspondent imagine that he again discerns the " sin oar of filthy fingers," or, a la Sherlock Holmes, discovers the publican's catspaw, you are at liberty, on application, to disclose to him my identity. In conclusion I trust "Straight Out's" future correspondence will be a little more charitable and not so devoid of Common Sense. Hastings, July 25th, 1896. [To the Editor.] Sir,—How peculiarly appropriate was the heading to the article " Straight Out " —" A Change Needed." While you are advocating for head-quarters of County Council, Jockey Club, and A. and P. Society being in Hastings, please say a word on behalf of a lunatic asylum. I think I could find someone to form the nucleus—or first inmate—of such an institution. He once wrote a letter to the newspaper and signed himself " Straight Out."— I am, &c., Lucifee.