“Electric Hares are Unmitigated Curse”

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 197, 9 November 1927, Page 15

“Electric Hares are Unmitigated Curse”

PRESBYTERY TAKES ACTION APPEAL TO GOVERNMENT “The Presbytery views with indignation the proposed introduction of electric-hare racing in Auckland as calculated to greatly increase the temptations to gambling and to create an undesirable moral atmosphere/* “It deplores the fact that such prominent citizens as the Mayor and the chairman of the Harbour Board are among the promoters of the company recently registered with a view' to its introduction, and also calls upon the Government to introduce prohibitive legislation without delay.” Such was the text of a resolution passed by the Auckland Presbytery at its monthly meeting last evening after i a vigorous debate on a motion brought j forward by the Rev. W. D. Morrison Sutherland on behalf of the convener of the Life, Works and Public Questions Committee of the Presbyterian Church. It was agreed that the resolution be forwarded to the Government forthwith and a copy each to the Mayor and the chairman of the Harbour Board. ! The question was argued quietly until two members expressed the view that the Presbytery was not justified in introducing personalities into the wording of the resolution. Animated discussion took place at this stage, and the objections were quashed. In moving the motion Mr. Sutherland said he had been in touch with people who had spent some time in England and Australia. Electric-hare racing was regarded by them as an unmitigated curse. A PASSING CRAZE However, the craze was gradually passing away in the Old Country. The speaker went on to refer to the evils of the sport in Sydney. Meet-* ings were held throughout the season on on© night a week and between 40,000 and 50,000 people attended. There were scores of bookmakers attracted to the courses, as well as many undesirable characters. The racing was found to have an insidious effect and poor people were squandering their money and were being tempted to pilfer. Tradesmen complained that since the coming of the sport bills were more frequently left unpaid, said Mr. Sutherland.

It was to be understood that the racing in itself was not harmful —the evil lay in the betting that invariably accompanied electric-hare coursing. “We should deplore the fact that our civic leaders are proposing to introduce a sport that brought nothing but harm in its train,” concluded the mover. EXCUSE FOR GAMBLING

‘ The whole business is merely an excuse for gambling,” declared the Rev. E. R. Harries, who seconded the motion. “It does no harm to the hares or to the dogs—it is the people who suffer,” he said. If allowed to get a footing hound racing would only demoralise the morals of the country.

It was here that the Rev. A. L. M. Aspland, while supporting the motion, contended that the Presbytery had no right to include personalities in the motion. He was supported strongly by Mr. F. W. Matthews, who also challenged the introduction of personal reflections upon the Mayor and chairman of the Harbour Board. He held that members were taking for granted things which might never come to pass. The Rev. L. H. Hunt at once claimed that the Presbytery was certainly entitled to mention names. The Church was too timid in handling these questions* To a certain extent they were the guardians of the public morals and if they exhibited outspoken fearlessness they would gain the respect of the man in the street. “WITHIN GUN RANGE” “If these men allowed themselves to come within the range of our guns they must expect to be fired on,” was Mr. Hunt’s laconic comment. Amplifying the object of the motion Mr. Sutherland said it was not merely himself as convenor of the Life, Works and Public Questions Committee which made the attacks, but the committee as a whole. It was with very great sorrow and reluctance that lie considered it necessary to mention Mr. Baildon and Mr. Mackenzie in his motion. An amendment that mention of the civic leaders be deleted from the motion was lost, as wan & further amendment to tone down the word “indignation.” The original motion was finally carried without dissent.

“NO GAMBLING ORGY”

REV. JASPER CALDER SPEAKS OUT TIN-HARE RACING That New Zealand is "on the eve of a gambling orgy,” a s ta *®‘ ment made by a member of the Auckland Ministers’ Association quite recently in regard to the introduction of tin-hare racing, is strenuously denied by the Rev. Jasper Calder, City Missioner. “The hysterical outburst of the association,” he says, “calls for at least calm and considered judgment. “It is, I fear, one of the prevailing faults of this body to rush in where angels fear to tread. According to the newspaper report, one of the members is quite emphatic that tin-hare racing cannot exist without gambling. He defies any man to say that it can. “Very well, I say that it can, and I go further and say that it does. There are courses in Australia where the dogs are raced every week, and neither bookmaker nor totalisator is permitted. "HASTY CONDEMNATION” “Of course it would be absurd to say that huge crowds would go tor the mere sport, but why not let us try and see what can be done for the promotion of racing for sheer fun of the „• Fm- mv part. I would no.t raise a word against non-betting greyhound racing and I am of tlie opinion that * condemnation of the thing unheard and untried is extremely nasty. “No man in the association or out of it can possibly say that ;we, are on pve of a gambling oigj. j >' c association, however, would certain y bn within its rights in condemning the granting of totalisator permit .or the ficensing of bookmakers for this sport. I would be prepared to stand by then in this respect to the last ditch. not condemned

•I do not. therefore, condemn the sport because in some paits of the world it has been commercialised out of the game. I merely register a protest at the immoderate language of some of the ministers m the ‘i ss °“ Siy do not flaTthafeiU^tlie/toto races^hould'thcy*bef introduced to this c s jS? n up ca to e -

of the promoters of greyhound racing that they were likely to fight for those things. “If the game can be kept free from commercialism.” Mr. Calder concludes, “I would be the first to welcome it most heartily in Auckland.”