TUAKAU

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 7, Issue 351, 8 February 1918, Page 2

TUAKAU

(See also page 4.) Sports' Promoters Prose*

cuted.

Illegal Racing Alleged.

Informations Dismissed.

At the Fukekohe Magistrate's Court yesterday before Mr Wyvern Wilson, S.M., a charge was heard on informations laid by Constable Taylor against Messrs Jas. Pirret, James Henry Craig, Thomas Patterson, Dynes Fulton and Joseph Fulton that they had conducted illegal racing at Tuakau on January 16th last.

Sergt. Cowan prosecuted and Mr H.H. Ostler defended.

The defendants pleaded not guilty. Sergeant Cowan explained that on January 16th a sports meeting was held at'Tuakau in aid ef the funds of a certain church and the pro; gramme had included two horseracing events which had given rise to the prosecution, one appearing on the posters which had been displayed in the town as a " Cigar and Umbrella Eace" and the other being described as a " Pace racewalk, trot and gallop." The latter event was, however, altered to include the drinking of a bottle of hop beer during the race. The defendants, the Sergeant added, were concerned in the management of the sports. Brown Tonga, a well-educated Maori, living at Opuatia, gave evidence that he was a competitor in the two events mentioned by the Sergeant. In the "Cigar and Umbrella race " the conditions were that the riders had to gallop to a certain spot, dismount and light a cigarette and gallop back to the starting post He got second in that race. He won the "Walk, trot and gallop," the conditions lor which, were for the horses to walk about 20 chains, the riders to then be handed and to drink a bottle of hop beer, followed by a trot for some 20 chains and a gallop for a similar' distance. He paid Is entry for each event. He could not say that his horse was the fastest in the race but he (witness) was the fastest swallower of the beer. (Laughter). For the " Cigar and umbrella " race he rode his own horse, but in the other race he rode one belonging to Mr Q. Morrison, of Pukekawa, and that animal, he believed, had won trotting events under the name of « Ben F."

Cross-examined : The fact that be was able to drink the beer quickly helped him to win the race. Evidence as to taking part in the " Walk, trot and gallop " was also given by a youth named John Raymond Geraghty. Constable Taylor spoke to having interviewed the defendants who admitted their responsibility for managing the sports but considered that no illegal act had been committed. The Constable mentioned that last year die Sports Committee were informed that the pace race was illegal and it was then omitted from the programme. Mr Ostler stated that the holding of the sports was an annual affair and until last year cigar and pace races had always figured on the programme. Last year: the Committee found that the pace race was illegal and dropped it after it had been announced. By error the bills for the recent gathering bore the same wording as those of last year, including the " walk, trot and gallop," bnt discovering their mistake the Committee advertised in the local paper that that race would not be held. What happened was that a race in its place was arranged on the ground which introduced the element of drinking a bottle of hop beer, and he contended that such an .event was not illegal as the result depended on a man's skill and the capacity of his throat for swallowing as much as on the pace of the horse he was riding. / The defendantfDynes Fulton, was called and bore out Counsel's statement He added that he believed the winning horse was / the slowest galloper and that there were also faster trotters in the race. He was quite sure that it was the large swallow of the Maori's throat that enabled him to win (laughter). Mr Ostler, in his final argument, admitted that a "walk, trot and gallop " had been decided to constitute illegal racing. Bat, he asked, was the Court going to posh such a ruling further and to declare illegal ordinary gymkana events? Any event, he claimed, that contained an element of endurance as apart from the fleetness of a horse was not illegal and he submitted that no offence had been committed.

The Magistrate remarked that the point really was whether the drinking of the beer was of sufficient importance to eliminate the superiority of a horse and thus to make the event more in the nature of an obstacle race. He was inclined to think such was the case. In regard to the other race it had been styled a " cigar and umbrella race " and such a race he did not consider illegal. In that instance, however, it had been altered to a cigarette race and the mere fact of a rider dismounting and lighting a cigarette did not in his opinion cease to make it a race. In the same way in a steeplechase if a hone fell it not infrequently happened that the result depended on the rider's ability to mount it again. Mr Ostler: What difference is there with an umbrella.

The Magistrate : It is exceedingly difficult to gallop with an open > umbrella. To light a cigar and to keep it alight until the winning post is reached is also more difficult than in the case of a cigarette. Mr Ostler: To light a cigarette in a wind is a matter of skill. His Worship, in conclusion, said tnat illegal racing was avoided by the introduction of some element other than the element of a horse's speed. Thus if a man galloped a certain distance and had to copy down some matter from a blackboard the result would depend on his speed of writing, or similarly to race

and to .irmk lemunade nod eat buns would not be illegal, [n that case the speed with which the winner drank his beer affected the result. There was a consensus of opinion on that point; the winner admitted it and also did not say that he had the beat horse or was the best rider. Buch took that event out of the decision of the High Courts as regards illegal racing. He, however, held that the cigarette race as run was substantially a horse race and was held with the sanction of the Committee. The defendants were doing; good work in raising money for a worthy cause, so he would not convict but would dismiss all the informations as trivial.