FOXTON RACING CLUB.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 2545, 20 February 1923, Page 3

FOXTON RACING CLUB.

v- \ COMMENTS BY “WAYFARER.”

That well-known sporting writer, “Wayfarer,”- of the N.Z. Referee, was a visitor to the local Racing Club’s Diamond Jubilee Meeting. Commenting on the meeting, “Wayfarer” says:— “The Foxton Racing Club is to be congratulated upon the fact that notwithstanding the extremely disagreeable weather on the second day, its Diamond Jubilee Meeting proved a, financial success. The credit for this must be given largely to the executive of the club, which laboured assiduously for two or three months to make the festival worthy of the occasion. But the executive has the advantage of serving a thoroughly sporting community, which did not allow a patch of winter in the middle of summer to, deter it from turning out in record numbers to do honour to a notable anniversary. * Foxton bor-. ough, which lies quite handy to the racecourse, was named after Sir William Fox, four times Prime Minister of the Dominion, as we .should have dubbed him in these days, and though I can find no record of the fact, I have good reason for believing Sir William was not only present at the first meeting held in the neighbourhood but actually took an active part in the proceedings. At any rate he afterwards was the owner of Glaucus, a horse bred by Captain Hunter in New South Wales. This is a long digression from the Foxton Diamond Jubilee Meeting, but Sir William Fox was a big figure in the early settlement of the West Coast of the North Island and in the public life of the Dominion for more than a quarter of a century. People who think of him only as a pioneer in licensing reform do much less than justice to the memory of a great man who did not think horse-ra.cing prejudicial to the best interests of the community. The point I set out to make, however, is that the £3,000 odd abstracted from the Foxton Club by 'wav of taxation in connection with its recent meeting is a pretty tall demand to make upon an institution that exists solely for the purpose of providing wholesome sport and recreation for the public. None of the gentlemen responsible for the management of the club, and for the payments of its debts, has the slightest chance of making a penny of personal profit out of its meetings. With the stewards, committeemen, and guarantors it always is a case of heads the State wins, tails they lose. All the clubs are in a similar position, though their circumstances may differ. The case of the Foxton Club, however, is particularly hard, because it stands sadly in need of extensive improvements on its course, and has no source of considerable revenue beyond the one the Government is taxing, well-nigh out of existence. The Racing Conference, which,' to do it credit, always is concerned for the welfare of the country clubs well might submit this “horrid example” of the operation of the present system of taxation to the Gov- t eminent.” *