WAIRIO JOCKEY CLUB.

Digger (Invercargill RSA), Issue 17, 9 July 1920, Page 8

WAIRIO JOCKEY CLUB.

annoal smoke conoert The members of the Wairio Jockev n held their annual smoke concert Coronation Hall at Nightcaps last Despite the wet night there was a ^ attendance, members coming froni ^ of the district, and a party 0f motored out from Invercargill. The " dent, Mr Thomas Todd, occupied^a' chair. During the evening many i ing features of the club's activity Caffie , light and there was evideijce 0f a friendly feeling existing which is essentfal in any clnb if it is going to make pro, gress. Frequent reference was made t> Mr Nathaniel Bates, who had the i record of being president of the club |ot 21 years. He was the type of man ^ club could ill afford to lose and the valn able work done by him and the committj during those early days of tha Club's existence could not fail to be appreciated Mr Todd has also held this office for J number of years, and it speaks well fot the Wairio Club that they are able to work together for the welfare of the Club. The secretary (Mr W. A. Saunders) gave some interesting details of tio early days of the dub. The Club held its first meeting on March 2, 1892, when there were eight races and llOsovs io stakes. • The amount put through the totalisator on that occasion was £520. The opening event was an open hurdle race and won by the present clerk of the cosrst at Riverton, who at that time vrsskuntsman to the Birchwood Ilounds. tance was two miles over a chippe&W sock track, taking 4min 54 l-5secs. Maiden Plate was won by Johnny, ^ he was disqualified because he had won j race at Riccarton. The race was given U Kingbird, ridden by Joe Blee. In fe;f good old days the stakes were very smillj the Wairio Cup being £20 for a distam of two miles. Juno, a locally ownij mare, won the race with R. Telford tj rider. Parvula won the Flying Handica| F airy Queen won the mile hack race o I5 miles. Gardenia won the Consolatioi race of one mile. A three. mile trot wai won by PolJy in 11 minutes 49-Jj seconJ The following year there were ten races,! the meeting being held in February. Cati-' edral won the open hurdles of two mih t in 4 minutes 42 seconds. Billy scoredM Wairio Cup of two miles in 3min 59|scc.,I being ridden by his owner, S. Brennalo. i On this occasion Watermark won the Fiy- 1 , ing Handicap with R. Telford on his bacisi and J. Telford won with Johnny in thj 1 District Race. T. Aiken rode Bansheoi in the three mile Trot in 9min 55sec. A ] present day committeeman and steward of the Club (Jack Walsh) won two races that day; — the Maiden Plate with Jenny and the Hospital Race with Tyrant. The Clnb now gives £1000 in stakes and putting £10,000 through the totalisator and j contributes £500 per aniium to the Govern- 'j ment. These interesting items indicating | the progress of the Club, reflect great J credit on the committee, whom Mr Saund- -1 ers stated had done a large amount «/ S voluntary work. In replying to the tca-st of ners and Breeders' Association ; Grieve considered that all owners and breeders should belong to the Association 1 and make tbemselves a force felt in racfflg I matters. By unity of action they could 1

remedy the present unsatisfactory railway conditions. The Association should have , its representatives at the Racing Confer J ence and should endeavour to h»w J ; Metropolitan Club in Invercargill) as| Southland was in the position to mans?« ; its own affairs. Bill then put the acidonj to the owners and breeders present as j as far as we could judge muzzled the o| of them as members. , , Mr W. Taylor, in proposing the to j j "of Parliament," said it was a good for clubs to come together and have WJB tercourse in matters associated vi 1 J ing. As far as Parliament was conceI ,1 —well, I don't like them ? The po '^| the Liberal Government was the 0 JJ 1 which met the requirements of the 1 Labour. had a lot to thank the ^ | Government for as it had always s ^ I the interests of the work ers. ^ 1 wanted to-day was for our P° 1 ^ ^ I gravitate back to the Lihera1-1" Ballance and Seddon adffllDJbs J Speaking to the toast of kindr Taylor stated that all clubs s 0 ^ J bine and make the Southlan ^ oi | a metropolitan body and ta e ^ racing throughout Southland. ^ Jl stated that Parliament should ^ A ing, b'ut it will. be a s°rD , ^ hM ing should this happen. parlia®cll j kept it a clean sport, an 1 gyppresse^l assumes control racing w1 , jcft f ! He various oluta ^ » carry on the sport as in x^i\ Mr K Russell considered l ^ was more progressive m

\ than in any other part of the Dominion He t had seen racing in England and there was no doubt that racing was of a very high staiidard in this country. There were V dozens of peoplo in this country who were owners who could not be so in England on account of high cost. The fact that poorer people could be owners in New Zealand was proof that we were progressive. 1 V Tlie secretary (Mr W. A. Saunders) ^4 I was highly commended by Mr W. Taylor for the manner in which he carried out his duties as secretary. "Mr Saunders was :h; 1 one of the best secretaries in New Zeaf,i;- land" and the Wairio Club were fortun8*1} f ate in getting his services. This note was readily agreed to by the members, who recognised the valuable work done by Mr 4 } Saunders. ea'V|§ During the evening the secretary an'fef nounced that Mr Taylor was donating a trophy to the club, and Mr Gaines inti®j|l mated that the Club was erecting ten : loose boxes for the benefit of owners. H:T Mr- E. Russell proposed the toast of the d ti; president, Mr Todd, who was following in it i[. the steps of Mr Nat. Bates and had contfc tributed largely to the success of the e ). ! Club. Mr North responded to the toast )lrt§ of the Clifden Club and Mr O'Brien on belialf of the Otautau Club. Later in the evening Mr O'Brien was called upon ijt], ■ to respoud to the toast of t-hose who are s it: not in sympatby with racing, but- the pU. str-ain was rather much, for Mick almost collapsed, and found difficulty in expressing the "kill joy" sentiments of t-hose whose health he was proposing. ,t|: ( Mr Stone intimated his early entry to Hoq the Club's fixtures and that he was in the er j game for the love of it. The singing of :: "Auld Lang Syne" brought a very sucj. cessful evening to a close.

8;| The toast list cont-ained the following toasts : "The Iving," proposed by the xM Chairman ; "Parliament of New Zealand" sjj (the chairman) and responded to by Mr - W. E. Taylor; "Kindred Clubs" (Mr J. 1 P- Forde), responded to by Messrs M. fta O'Brien (Otautau Racing' Club), W. E, Hk.'( Taylor (Sout'nland Racing Club), and W. iJci F- North (Clifden Racing Club); "The the : Owners" (Mr W. A. Saunders), responde mil to by Messrs W. Stone, Erie Russell, £S 41 and M • F. North; "The Owners verej and Breeders' Association" (Mr M. abre] °'Brien), ponded to by Mr Wm. of . Crieve; Wairio Jockey Club (Mr W. E. fiVy ■■■ Tayl°r) > responded to by Messrs T. Todd, i fefii F,aanes; and W. A. Saunders; "Our )&i Soldier Members" (Mr Chas. Keen), remd £Pondsd to b.v Messrs W. Welsh and M. ri|Duggan; "The Badies" (Mr J. Welsh), responded to by Mr M. Gaines, L. O'Dowd and A. Pannack ; "The Pr.ess" (Mr M. Gaines),; "The Visitors" (Mr J. 0. Clapp); and "The Chairman" (Mr Eric Russell}. During the evening an excellent musical programme was contributed by Messrs J. Magee, W. Welsh, S.- Crawford, F. Boyle, A McKenzie, A. Pannack, Jno. Welsh, j. Bocock, J. Kelly, W. Crieve, Faulki f-i, Thomson, Robinson, and Clapp.