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terms of our commission, allocated, as set forth in the schedules numbered 1 and 3 appended hereto, the statutory number of days on which the totalizator may be used. For this purpose we have been obliged to reduce the days of racing by fortythree and the days of trotting by eleven, being the proportionate reduction required by the Gaming Act from the number allotted in 1910-11 for meetings at which the totalizator was used. We would premise that we have fulfilled the duty imposed upon us with regret, as we are unanimous in the opinion that some measure of redistribution would have been preferable, and that with the exceptions which could have been thus remedied, and considering the consequential diminution of registered clubs caused by the restrictions imposed by the Gaming Act, the days of racing are not excessive to supply the requirements of so scattered a population. We have recognized as a principle that the larger cities cater not only for the recreation of their own residents, but that their greater resources enable them to provide efficiently for a periodic influx from neighbouring districts. We have also regarded the less accessible communities as entitled to special consideration wherever they have shown any active desire for racing by the provision of needful equipments. We have throughout borne in mind that any approach to the proprietary principle in the ownership of racecourses, and any personal interest in the profits derived therefrom, are strongly to be deprecated. It is obvious that where courses are held on a leasehold tenure from companies or individuals there is danger, if not certainty, that sooner or later a more or less disguised form of profit-sharing must ensue. We therefore recommend that in all such cases there shall be required the acquisition of the freehold or of a right to race in perpetuity, at a fixed rental. In order to guard against any possible accrual of personal profit, we consider that in the event of the dissolution after the 31st day of December, 1911, of any racing or trotting club, or of the cessation of any such club to carry on the business of racing or trotting, the surplus (if any) of assets over liabilities shall be devoted to the funds of the nearest hospital or hospitals. In cases where neighbouring clubs amalgamate, any such surplus or surpluses may be considered as part of the assets of the club formed by such amalgamation. As a general rule, we consider that no license should be issued to any racing club unprovided with a racecourse of about one mile in circumference, fenced on the inside of the racing-track with a fence of an approved pattern, or to any trotting club unprovided wth a trotting-track similarly fenced. The pattern shown in Schedule No. 10 attached hereto is strongly recommended. There are certain cases', as in the Westland district, where courses free from the danger of sharp turns are not procurable, but we would desire to place on record our conviction that no new licenses should be granted except upon the conditions aforesaid. In every case in which the provision for the fit carrying-on of the sport or for the safety of riders or of the public is deficient, or in which the sanitary arrangements are unsatisfactory, we have called attention to the deficiencies, and we suggest that if within one or two years, according to the magnitude of the needed alterations, such deficiencies are not completely remedied, the license should be permanently withdrawn from the negligent club. As a further record we have added schedules calling attention to the needs and imperfections which we consider are capable of being supplied or amended before racing or trotting can be satisfactorily conducted on the courses therein named. We desire to point out that the peculiar concentration of trotting has been caused by the exceptional growth of the sport in a few centres, and this unequal distribution cannot be immediately remedied. In view of the lessened number of race meetings, we would suggest that increased attention should be paid by the Railway Department for supplying facilities to the public—especially within a radius of, say, twenty miles—for attending races. At such centres as Dunedin and Wellington the train journey of twelve or seventeen miles respectively to new courses has not decreased attendance, and with an attrac-