The Chronicle. PUBLISHED DAILY FRIDAY OCTOBER 20, 1911. COUNTRY RACING CLUBS.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 20 October 1911, Page 2

The Chronicle. PUBLISHED DAILY FRIDAY OCTOBER 20, 1911. COUNTRY RACING CLUBS.

men in these parts will he well pleased, with the renewed proiiiNo given last Wednesday by Sir Joseph Ward, to Mr Jennings, M.P., that an opportunity will be afforded to members during this session of Parliament, to vote upon the proposal to resuscitate tlmse racing <ilnl's which had only once-a-year meetings ,md ',-. It if!) were killed by the Racing Coinnii -.-.ion. Hope* for a while were entertained that the I'a.cing Commissioners would consent to remodel and possibly to modify their recommendations, after they had been requested to reconsider them by the Government : 'but it seems clear now that thoy will not <Io so. .Frankly we may say that in asking them to again deliberate the Government made a mistake. The commissioners .jointly and severally already had shown themselves so unjudicial, and so parochially inclined to differentiate for and against localities and clubs, • that only "confusion worse con font) died" could have resulted from any further deliberations on their part. If members of Parliament are given an opportunity of rectifying as far as possible the worst of the several blunders by which tho Racing Commission made itself obnoxious, the Government will be doing its duty, and acting in fairness to all. Many people hlame the present Administration for the present state, of sporting affairs, hut to do so is unfair. The legislation which set up the Racing Commission was not a Government measure. It - was brought in to satisfy a clamant demand from n fairly largo minority of the public which protested against the amount of horserncing that -was being indulged in throughout Xew Zealand. The Government assisted to pass the measure simply because members of its party, equally with Opposition members and Independent members, deemed the public demand for it imperative. Later on, the blundering that characterised tho Racing Coniimissioners' werk, and the clear unfairness of their recommendations caused a revulsion of feeling, and to-:!ay the country clubs h'ave the sympathy of the great bulk of the people >on aecuint of the unfair differentiation that lias been made between the city clubs and the country ones. But this condition of affairs is one for which Parliament primarily was responsible; Parliament as 4i whole* and not only that portion of it that is comprised of the Administration and its supporters.