TURF PURITY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 53, 20 July 1912, Page 7

TURF PURITY.

STIPENDIARY STEWARDS AT RACES (from Our Own Correspondent). Wellington, Thursday. ,{ That hardy annual, the question of thf 1, appointment of stipendiary stewards, was j- again before the Racing Conference toe day, at which Sir George Clifford preside ed. The matter was introduced by the t J laranaki delegates, who submitted the r I following proposition:—At each annual e Conference a committee, to be called 4 The Stipendiary Stewards' Committee," a shall be elected, with power to select and i- appoint not less than two persons to r act as stip'endiary stewards at race meet- >' ings, on such terms with such powers, and = subject to such conditions as the com- ® ) mittee may, by laws or regulations (which they are hereby authorised to make) prescribe. Such by-laws and re- ] gulations shall, when signed by the chair- _ man of the committee, be transmitted to the secretary of the conference, and notified, and shall thereafter have equal force , and effect as if they were by-laws and : regulations made by the Conference it- _ self. The committee .shall consist of r five persons, who shall select a chairman, . and may delegate to him all or any of ■ the powers of the committee oilier than ■ the powers of appointing stipendiary ; stewards, and the power of making, re- , scinding or verifying by-laws and regulations (Hereby conferred on the committee). and the chairman may exercise such delegated powers as if they were hereby conferred on the chairman in the same manner as Mi y are hereby conferred oil the rmrrmti't'. hi the event of no sti- ■ pcn.Kary steward being able to attend any race meeting a substitute stipendiary steward may be appointed by the com- ■ mittee or its chairman to act at such ] r!lce meeting, and in respect of such race , meeting shall be deemed for all purposes i a stipendiary steward. The committee I shall determine the remuneration to be j paid to the stipendiary stewards for r their services, and the amount required for the purpose, and in order to carry this rule into eflect. shall be provided by' | the totalisator clubs, in proportion to i the gross amounts received by them rcI speetively by way of investments on the j j totalisator during the preceding year, with regard, so far as the committee may lind expedient, to any change in the number of days on which the totalisator is used by any club -in the current year. The amount payable by each club shall . be fixed by the committee, and be paid to the secretary of the Conference, who ! shall apply it as the chairman niay from time to time direct. _ The Hon. 0. Samuel said that the motion had been very carefully worded, and j lie required to say very 'little on the matter, it differed from what had pre-' viously been put before, the Conference, in that it provided for the appointment of substitute stipendiary stewards where one of the permanent stewards was not j available. lie claimed that stipendiary] stewards were necessary to protect jockeys and others from disqualification ! where they had committed no offence,? .just as much as they were required to I . put down malpractices. I Mr. R. H. Nolan (Taranaki) seconded I the motion, and said he had nothing to ] add to what he had said for years past. I He sincerely hoped the motion would be carried. , ifr. W. E. Bidwill (Wellington country clubs) said that he was more convinced than ever, after his visit to Australia, that the appointment of stipendiary stewards would be the greatest benefit 1 ; that could be conferred on racing. J Mr. Guinness (Canterbury country ) clubs) agreed that stipendiary steward's ; I were necessary. He said that while j bookmakers had been banished from the courses they still carried on their calling ' | surreptitiously, and made double betsone of the greatest dangers of straight' running. The position of country clubs would have to he carefully considered so that if stewards were appointed their services would be available in the coun- ■ try districts. Sir George ClifTonl reviewed the ques- 1 tion at some length. He said that Mr. : Samuel's proposal left the financial asi peet in a soniew liat nebulous condition. As to the stewards, he said they would ) not be of very great, value at any one meeting. Their chief duty would be to follow the running from one meeting to another, and -detect malpractices. That was the sort of work a stipendiary steward was designed to follow. The class of man required could not be obtained at a small salary. He must be a man of character, and a man who could, be thoroughly trusted. He must have I an inner knowledge of racing and genj erally possess the very best qualities. I Sir George Clifford did not anticipate., that an organisation such as that proposed could be run under a cost of £4OOO per annum. Already the clubs were very heavily taxed, and if the Government were taking a keen interest in their welfare it might be well if the Government would subscribe to the racing authorities some of the heavy sums they levied on clubs' totalisator receipts. Oneeighth per cent, levy on clubs' receipts for the last year would provide a sum of £3002. He quoted a return showing what each club would have contributed last year on that basis, and went on to suggest an alternative method. The jockeys' provident fund had a sum of £12,000 on fixed deposit. He thought that amount was sufficient for all the demands that were likely to arise. The fund had been in existence for ten years, and the sum mentioned had gradually accumulated. He suggested that after fixing a reserve of £IO.OOO, the balance and the surplus of contributions to the funds required to maintain the reserve might be used for the payment of stipendiary stewards. (Hear, hear). He explained that the fund in question came out of the pockets of the owners. There was a proposal on the order paper to reduce the annual contributions from £1 to 10s. He suggested that the proposal he had made might replace this and the money could be devoted in the manner outlined, and the difficulty of finance would l be overcome. Mr. O. C'. Cooper (Wellington country clulis) supported the motion, and suggested that the motion should be amended, by adding that the maximum amount to be collected from any club should be one-eighth per cent. Mr. Samuel said he had no objection le - the suggestion. "If we wish to have (he tote and the public with us," said Mr. Speed, ''"we will have to do this." Mr. K. W. Alison (Auckland country clubs) wan led an assurance that the scheme would not be an incubus on country clubs. He was quite prepared to suppoit the appointment of stewards so long as they were not too great a burden. Eventually the motion was amended, by consent, in the direction suggested by Mr. Cooper, limiting the contributions from clulis to one-eighth per cent, and the enlargement of the committee to six, not including the president, who shall 1)1 ex officio a member and chairman. Mr. 11. D. Vavasour (Marlborough) moved an amendment, in the, direction of providing that all reports from •stipendiary stewards should be submitted for final action to at least members of the stewards of any meeting and not more than five. ) The chairman ruled the amendment out of order. Finally, the original proposal, with the amendment already indicated, was adopted amidst hearty applause,