WELLINGTON TOPICS

Hokitika Guardian, 2 July 1932, Page 4

WELLINGTON TOPICS

THE SPORT OP RACING. • AND THE LURE OF GAMBLING. (From a Corrcsponuent). s, - . ' . WELLINGTON, June 30, Both th 9 metropo.itan and the provincial newspapers are opening- their columns just now to the discussion of ... - the decay of horse racing as it is. in « - , the-Dominion to-day and to a propos. .1 for the restitution of the bookmakers as th e salvation of the sport. “Judging v of the exodus of New Zealand horses to \ Australia,” says one of - these author!- A ties, “it- is apparent that the job of o'i stopping the rot that has set in in - , New Zealand racing is beyond tbe. tv ability of the Racing. Conference, Extreme measures will have to be taken, and the only solution is the reinstat"ment of the bookmaker.” From the ,- :: same source the public is told “it is no .A secret that £5,000.000 is not an over- A - ; estimation of the "amount that ‘books’ put through their hands in;New Zea- - land; and that if licensed they wood ■ not grudge a million or so going to the , - clubs and the Governmefit. . -jr -v.-;> “TOTALISATOR PIRACY.”. •Another authority of high .-tanding f> writing in a southern journal does not ,{ * mince matters. “The illegal traffic tHofc is going at the present time,” he declares, “is not bookmaking but tot*’!? , isator piracy. The betting patrons pre, . . sent at a meeting fix the dividends and . the turf operators pay out accordingly, , within, various limits. , , . If the Racing ~ Conference .and Parliament -see fit to . license bookmakers it is certain that, only men of sub-tance-, who would deposit a bond of several hundreds sterling,' and citizens of integrity would fi*«l \ it worth while to apply. T^ 0 licensees themselves would seek to secure a High standard both as to character* and «s to ~ , cash, and in any case only those pos- __ sesssd of these cssenti:,l qualifications would survive.” All this, of coiirse,. is . very plausible, and on© could wish \it , were well founded, but the experience . , of forty odd years has not shown it. to be the case. ... ■ . LOOKING ON. While the “Evening Post,”' In pre- ; , Absenting to its -readers the. two articles which have been touched upon here, does not commit itself to any decision on the subject with which they deal, it recognises that the time is not .inop- '. portune for the bookmakers to press their claim to recognition from'the constituted authorities. “A small .section . v of th e Press,” it isays, “has taken up the • A advocacy of the licensed fielder with an ,- A, openness that it would hardly have/ -. dreamed of showing , only. a few years , ; ago, when the ‘sports’.’: v ;.wpre-. very-,.,pjpch,,j i more jflourishing than they are .at,. j\ present. . . .It is not intended to j f traverse th e logic of xhe articles, or ' otherwiso to criticise them, for the public Js quite able to undertake that..,, task itself.” Th e “Post” in this. ca-'e . has over estimated the judgment of the public, which, as a ruie, it shapes ad- . mlrably When problems greater or smaller have to be solved. BACKING the field; V' . It is quit 9 natural that the backers .j of the field .in this country should wish to be restored th 6 privileges and opportunities their predecessors enjoyed. But racing at this eri-a of the wo r ld has . undergone tiffany changes during the last ten or twelve years and it is no longer -an '.activ e .impetus to the breeding off useful horses or.to the strength. enisg of. the nation’s cavalry forces* v; Th -rty yea»3 ago ilight" homes were .being Vishipped to India ..and to -South Africa k from New Zealand' in .much larger num- . bers than they ; bad been shipped the other way fifty; years before. But the pe'trol driven vehicles have changed all ' this, at any a‘ate so far as this Dominion is concerned, and it has been predicted that even m England, the very birthplace' of the .sport, racing ; will be remembered only by the records of the past. By that time doubtless the aeroplane will have reached its zenith. ■ --