SIR HERCULES ROBINSON ON HORSE-RACING.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 4972, 28 February 1877, Page 3

SIR HERCULES ROBINSON ON HORSE-RACING.

A banquet was given to the Governor of New South Wales, at Wagga Wagga, on Thursday, December 7. His Excellency, in responding to the toast of his health, spoke as follows:—I thank you for the cordial manner in which the toast of my health has been proposed and received, and for the hearty welcome which you have offered to me on the occasion of my first visit to Wagga Wagga. I can assure you that I have derived both pleasure and profit from my journey through Riverina. The country abounds with of wealth and progress, which can scarcely fail to interest any observant traveller, whilst the princely manner in which I have been entertained along the road testifies to the characteristic hospitality of the class of gentlemen, who have been jokingly described by a great English statesman as " the fleeces of a thousand flocks." I am glad to have had this opportunity of visiting Wagga, and of making the acquaintance of residents who have always been men noted for their private enterprise, their public spirit, and their love of sport. (Cheers.) I had originally arranged to leave Melbourne on my return journey ten days earlier, which would have brought me here about the 23rd ult, and to Sydney by the 30th ul.t—an arrangement which would have been convenient to myself personally, after a Bomewhat protracted absence from the capital. But I was informed by the committee of the Murrumbidgee Turf Club, that my passing through Wagga just ten days before your annual gathering would be a great disaDpointment to the community generally, that it would in a great measure spoil the meeting ; and that I should miss the best op-, portnnity of making the acquaintance of the inhabitants of the Murrumbidgee district. I accordingly enquired whether I could not delay my return to Sydney for a few days; and as soon as I learnt that, so far as public business was concerned, it was of no material consequence whether I got back on the Ist or the 10th, I at once altered my arrangements so as to meet your wishes in the matter. (Cheers.) My coming at the present time has had one advantage so far as I am concerned. As soon as I received, a few days ago, your kind invitation for to-night, I felt a little anxiety as to the subject on which I could address yon, without repeating myself—having already, during my tour, touched upon the several questions most occupying the Riverine mind, namely, railway extension, border duties, federation, immigration, and the land laws. (Cheers.) Mentioning this difficulty, as I did to a gentleman who knows the district well, he at once informed me that I might make my mind quite easy on that score, as the thoughts and aspirations of "all here were at present centred in the Wagga meeting, and that a few words on tbe subject of racing would be far more acceptable than any number of disquisitions upon the politics or economical questions of the day. (Cheers.) Allow me then to say how glad I am to be present during your sporting carnival. As at Doncaster the Yorkshire squires and farmers meet in friendly intercourse, so at | Wagga Jthe selectors and squatters are thrown together on terms which tend to soften the asperities which are almost inseparable from colonial life, and to promote feelings of mutual goodwill. Your race meeting, thanks to your j liberal programme and admirable arrangpments, ranks only after the Metropolitan gatherings at Eandwick and at Flemington ; and it is now firmly established under auspices which hold out every promise of lasting success. (Cheers.) I rejoice at this, and at the prosperity of the turf generally throughout the colony, for as a former Premier of England (Mr. Gladstone) said, "racing is noble, manly, distinguished, and in its history a truly national amusement." (Cheers.) No doubt it sometimes gives rise to excesses, which all true lovers of sport must deplore. Horses, unfortunately, are sometimes run " not to win," and the turf occasionally offers an opportunity for excessive gambling. But these are abuses of racing, and not its legitimate use. Every calling, profession, and amusement is open to abuse. Scandals sometimes occur elsewhere than on " the turf," but they do not justify a general condemnation. Racing per se is innocent, and where properly carried out it is calculated to do much good to the country, and it is, in my opinion, one of the most legitimate amusements in which men of means can indulge. Do what you will there will always be horse-racing. In every Anglo-Saxon community people will have amusement ; they will seek recreation of one kind or another. You cannot prevent them. You cannot define or prescribe rational pleasures. You cannot dictate to each person the precise amusement he is at liberty to pursue. The form of amusement which most Englishmen enjoy is racing. And this being so, it certainly appears to me that persons of position and character will do good, not by abandoning a sport which is harmless in itself to the unrestrained evil influences of the unscrupulous, but rather, by sympathising with it generously and heartily, and by doing what may be done by iuflueuce and example, to ensure its being carried on with moderation and propriety. For this reason I rejoice to see the extent to which the gentlemen of New South Wales throughout the length and breadth of the colony are participating in racing, and doing what can be done by their countenance and support to elevate and purify it. When this is the case, we may be sure that racing will be followed mainly for sport, and that a fine old English institution will not be allowed to degenerate in their hands into a mere instrument of gambling and speculation. Feeling then that more good can be done by advocating use without abuse, than by arguing from abuse against use, I have not hesitated ever since my arrival in this colony to identify myself with the chief amusements of the people. I did not do so without counting the cost beforehand, and I was prepared to encounter at first a certain amount of detraction. But it was my most honest conviction that the course I was about to adopt would be good; and my reception during my present trip, and the allusions that have been made in speeches and addresses at every place I have visited to my exertions for the furtherance of legitimate sport, have convinced mo that my conduct has met with the approval of the great majority of this community. It is my firm conviction that the only way to prevent the working classes from flying to the stimulus of intoxication, or of something worse, lies in the elevation .of the taste of the people by early education, and by healthy rational amusements, so that they may find in something else

than dissipation a means of escape .from... the worries of life, and of relief from - the dreary monotony! of daily labor. It is to education, mental and physical, and to recreation, pursued with judgmeut and moderation, that we must mainly look for the growth amongst the rising generation of 'manliness and gentleness, of intelligence and public spirit; and with these notable qualities once engrained in the national character, there is no height of national greatness to which Australia may not reasonably aspire. (Continued cheering.)