The Chairman's Remarks.

Manawatu Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 427, 14 July 1905, Page 2

The Chairman's Remarks.

la his annual report the. ohainriaa said moat ot.the clubVdurin£ the year had shown healthy rivalry in'the provision of good sport,,while there was no •' deterioration in the class of hQma attracted. There was laxity on the part ' of some clubs in issuing jockeya 1 licenses. No leas than 162 jockey* licensed hsd less tban six, moantf, and of these 50 did not ride at all, while forty un'icensed jockeys rode nn* challenged. The accident fund was stated - to have 6tood the strain of increased demands. The allegations of abases on the turf were persistently and recWesily made by anonymous slanderer* and occasionally by ill-informed or prejn> diced men in responsible positions. These charges were mainly the putconw of imaginative ignorance, bat it wm the duty of the Conference to correct whatever abuses arise, and. render'corrupt practices top difficult and dangerous to be attempted with impunity. la tb» connection he urged the Oonfereno* t» consider whether the ownership of horses by bookmakers waa consistenuwithth* maintenance of the public confidenoV in the sport. : ■ ;•;"■-' ■-"■" ■/ -"'\-.. It was useless to quote the Integrity "X of individual bookmakers ; .as b, body they had complex interests opposed ta those of other horseowners and of th» general public. Even apart from ownership they were as a speculating medram less desirable than the totalisator, which offered no inducement to excess, which could not fail to meet its engagements, and which had no power to mislead and no motive for deception; but if the proprietor of the totalisator owns racehorse*, from which he was debarred by the rules, his position would be manifestly unfair and intolerable to his clients.

•• Why then," he added, permit book* makers—who, in these days are practically layers of leas liberal totalisator odd* —to play two parts, the combination of which must give tempting opportunities for fraud, must expose them in any east to serious snspicion, and must teqd to produce occasional scandals ? Sorely this is a direction mi which, we should act our house in order." , ~\