THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1911. SPORTS PROTECTION.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10467, 3 November 1911, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1911. SPORTS PROTECTION.

Some months iback there cam© into existence in Wellington an institution wliieh proclaimed itself the "National League." Tlie chief objective of -tiliis. organisation appeared! to be the preservation of the .rights of the people to secure beer, in defiance of tire will of the 'majority of people. The League iseenvs .to have had a sihort and merry existence, for it has not 'been beard of publicly for some time. Now we have a more pretentious body called to action, in the shape of a "Sports Protection League." The objects of this League, 'and the only purposes of its formation, are stated in the constitution as follow: To influence public opinion, without regard to party politics, in the interests of sport, so as to enable the- people to amuse themselves in future without molestation . To promote .any alterations of law that may bo Necessary for the ' (better protection of sports and pastimes. To take up and defend any actions (that the council may consider important as test cases.* To discourage all malpractices in connection with sport, and to raise its tone wherever it is considered necessary. Generallv to ?Io whatever may

from time to time -sown advisable to extend the facilities for every honestly cc-nducitcd sport, exercise and amusement.

The- first pl'ank in I'iie preamble of the "Sports Pirateoticui as set out .above, reads like a p-ieee 01 delicious (satire, it will be aiewsi to most .people that public opinion requires' influencing in the direction of sport. Why, there is no community in the world', ■with >a population of one million,- which possesses thiesame unfettered privilege's for sport as are possessed' in New Zealand. And iihe»; - e are no people who indulge themselves in sport to a more lavish extent .than the people of this Dominion. Apparently, however, there are some people imagine that party politics have entered into the ! discussion of spoat. 'lhis wall also'! come as a surpai&e to the devotees 'of

cricket, and football, and hockey, j and howling, and tennis, 'and horsieraoing, and. the hundred and one different forms of sport which are engaged in by old and young. Party politics., forsooth! Whoever heard of such a thing on the .sports ground ? The promoters of the League must be dreaming. They seriously ask that the people should be allowed to "a-m'use theon-selves-in future without molestation." When, and under what circumstances, have the people been molested in their amusMiJaqit in the -piast ? It, isi a libel upon, thie. people of the Dominion to suggest that they have permitted the mole-station of any sport- which has Been wholesome and cikan.' As a matter of fact the molestation is purely imaginary. Why doss, this* "Sports Protection League" riot come out openly and isay, "We demand that our rights to gamible through the totalisator he preserved, and we ask the public to support' vis in this demand?" Thai would (have been the honest and proper thing to do, for it must ibe remiemibered that the League has practicality been caMed into existence by the Racing Clubs, and is being financially supported,'by them. There as nothing to be ashamed of about the totalfeator. It is a legal form of gambling, and while it Temains so, nobody has a right to cast a i&tignia upon,it..- If people are determined to gamete, .let them do so in the least objectionable manner, and if gambling is. wsentiaito Worse, racing, suid a League is necessary to protect the interests of both, let us clean-fly underoband the position. Parliament, in its wisdom, hfas seen fiit .to reduce .tlie num'ber of totalisator permits in the Dominion, but we have yet to learn that this is due to party politics or to a desire to molest the people in their amusements. If Parliament has acted wrongty, the people'have their redreS® at tlie poUJsi. The "Sporte Protection League" has every right to strive to protect She gambling machine and tlie racing .oltubsi by catdmg puMic opinion. It has no riglit, liowever, to -suggest that all forms of sport are being'.molested, and to endeavour to enlist outside support by subterfuge. 'ln most formfc of sport there has been' astrong desiire(to eliminate 'gambling and the professional element. And it would be an insult to the ptibilio intelligence to* seek to prompt© legislation which"would result in the dei terioration, of sport. The "Sports ! Protection League" would have a I more potent influence, upon public npinion if it displayed a little more candour and a Tittle .leas hypocrisy.