THE WANGANUI WANK.

NZ Truth, Issue 140, 22 February 1908, Page 5

THE WANGANUI WANK.

A BENEFIT FOR HATRICK AND CO. Is Billy Tuck a Patriot? Who Sends those Lengthy Press Wires?

Patriotism is all very well m t its Way, and a Good Sport is right enough up to a limit,- and a sculling .match 'deserves encouragement sometimes, and Wattganui is no particular blot on the landscape, but there are other things. As all the world knows, Australian Tressider is going to try and -wrest the world's sculling championship from New Zealand Webb on the Wanganui '.River on Tuesday next, and everybody khotys that Wa-frg&nui is going to -get very drunk that night whichever way it goes, and there is going to be a lovely crop of sOre heads next morning. But this is by the Way. This paper is not a bit Concerned about what the Wanganuiites do or drink, but' it just wants to draw pUblid attention to a feW little 1 things m connection with this same sculling race. New Zealand Wants to hold the championship, and New 2>!talahd wants future champions'hiips rowed m NewjZealahd waters, but New Zealand doesn't want these sculling matches to be . huge benefits to A; Hatrick and Co. "and Mr W. R. TuCkr It sounds like blasphemy or . lese majeste, or something equally dreadful, to say .anything detrimental to i Billy Tuck just now. Next to Webb himself, Tuck is the hero of the hour, and "Truth" will admit that personally Billy is one of the best and a 'real good sport to boot, but he seems to,, have developed the itching palm' since he saw the opportunities for boodle-making a championship > sculling . match affords . Just notice - • ; THIS ,<LITTLE JOLT . taken from .an advertisement In a Wanganui paper :— . Notice to visitors by road.— A horse and vehicle paddock has been •kindly placed -AT MY DISPOSAL by Mr Earle. Tickets for accommodation—Vehicle with horse or horses 2s ; saddle horses Is. Tickets obtainable -at ticket-box at entrance to ground. Hillside view grand stand. 'Mr Earle's private property also placed AT MY DISPOSAL. Admission to grounds Is. Tickets at entrance gates.— W. R. Tuck. Now, it is just a wonder that Mr W./ R. Tuck didn't arrange with the Almighty to -have the Wanganui river placed "AT MY DISPOSAL," and ask one 'shilling a time from the public to have a. look at the water. Who is Mr Earle, anyhow ? And if he has private property overlooking the river why the devil didn't he give it to the public instead of placing it' at Mr Tuck's disposal to make boodle out of, Or, if he wanted to do something for rbwing, why not have placed it at the disposal of the rowers themselves and given them .the benefit ? Is Barle posing as a . philanthropist, Or is . he cutting it up with Tuck ? . It will be noticed that a horse and vehicle is charged 2s, whilst a horse without vehicle is charged only Is for admittance to the paddock. What is ;th<e extra shilling tor the/ vehicle for ? Does Mr Earle or Mr Tuck, think, the Wanky vehicle is going to eajj as much grass as a horse? Of. course; they don't/ but they know that there will be more vehicles than saddle hotses and they want to EXTRACT AS MUCH BOODLE f as possible from the public. Tuck is determined that if the public want to see, Webb and Tressider row they shall pay Tuck for it. And why shouldn't they ? Hasn't he already done very well but of Webb ? Didn't he make Webb, champion of the world? Didn't he win his races for him ? Didn't fie train him, teach him how to handle an "oar, how to Sit m a boat, how to develop his muscles, how t<Hin , fact; didn't he make Webb ? Some people say he didn't, but "Truth" feels confident, that he did, or why should he have the right to. charge poor devils Is each andj Is each for th&r horse and their buggy, to watch 'his protege come down the river ? It is .a thousand pities that Mr Tuck's friend Earle didn't own the whole of the course foreshores, and then Tuck could have charged everybody a quid a time to get near the bank and he'd have got such a load on that there wouldn't be any need to pet him up any more benefits. But this doesn't end Tuck's profits. Tuck, keeps the Provincial Hotel—a very decent hotel; toO-^-but if :.Tuck?s .barmaids are not kept goiiig good' and strong on Tuesday night, this paper is a bad judge. Tuck wijl reap, a golden harvest, from bis bar alone, ana could have well afforded to attend to that only, and let the .'public, have the right free of charge to ' enter those precious paddocks so kindly placed at his disposal. But Tuck is not the only one who is going to get a benefit out of the race. A. Hatrick and Co. are going to do no harm at all* THE HATRICK SHINDYCATE, " as most people know, have the monopoly of- the i W^ngahui river carrying trade. Hatrick and Co. know it too, and-cnarge accordingly. They are dynamite;. ■They do as they like, as the -.up-river settler knows to his cost! They are so strong that the Government should pass an anjtiHatrick Bill; or a Bill to limit the freight charges for inland transports. Hatrick is just brimming with enthusiasm over this boat race. Why shouldn't he ? Just look at the following list, of prices for accommodation m Hatrick's boats :—

7 a.m. boats 3s, 8 a.m. boats 4s, 9 a.m. to noon boats ss, noon to 2 p.m. bOats 6s. These prices adi mit to Mr Earle's private property (oh, blessed private property). Umpire's boat £2 return. Three follow the race boats, £1 return. < Hatrick's evidently believe m making hay while the sun shines. The person who pays 3s for the privilege of being steamed a few miles up the river at. 7 a.m. and sitting m a paddock to watoh a race starting at 4 p.m. wants his head read, and the company that has the cheek to run a boat at that hour and charge that price wants bashing with THE BUSINESS END OF A MEAT >• AXE. This paper is a great believer m sculling as a sport and hopes to see New Zealanders hold the world's

championship for years to come, but it objects .to monopolistic capitalist, boodleistic shows of the Hatrick kidney copping all the coin and exploiting the public m the name of sport. Who is pulling the strings with the Press Association VTruth" does not know, f but this it does know, that the daily press has been 'getting "boom" wires re. the match m much larger doses than the importance of the thing warrants. It is a moral neither Webb nor Tressider send the , wires, and it is alsO a moral .that whoever is working the joint must bfe.'. doing it for something. is not much patriotism m this sort of thing these days. They go for the boodle all the .tame. This paper doesn't object to Billy Tuck getting a cut so much because Billy is a sport and will spend a bob or ,two to bring out either a good man or a good horse, but as for Hatrick and Co. making money out of sport, well, it just miakes this paper sick.