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to do all they possibly can to further the interests of sport generally. At our last totalizator meeting we gave stakes amounting to £220. We think we should have at least one day's sport when the people in the towns have their twelve or fifteen days. Cheviot Racing Club. The headquarters of the club are at Cheviot. The club was formed twenty-one years ago, and is registered. The last meeting was held on the Ist January, 1914. A list of the present members of the club and a copy of the last balance-sheet have been forwarded. The circumference of the course is 6 furlongs. The course is situated in Mackenzie, on a public reserve controlled by the Mackenzie Domain Board. The reserve is sheltered by splendid plantations, and is an ideal spot for a country race meeting. The accommodation consists of a judge's box recently erected at a cost of £20, and ladies' and gentlemen's conveniences on the grounds. The course is fenced on both sides. The nearest clubs using the totalizator are at Amberley, forty-five miles distant, and Blenheim, 130 miles distant. The nearest club not using the totalizator is at Waiau. thirty-five miles west of Cheviot. In support of our claim we wish to point out that we have always maintained a spirit of straightforwardness in the running of our annual meetings, and our application for a permit to hold the race meeting has never been refused or questioned. Our club is situated in the centre of a breeding district, and horses competing at the annual meeting have afterwards been nominated and raced right throughout the Dominion with a fair measure of success, competing in first-class company. The Cheviot Club has never had a totalizator permit to assist its operations, and the stewards feel that their past efforts go to show that the club has good reasons in support of this application. Our membership now totals a hundred, comprising settlers and business people of first-class standing. We should like to mention that our course is within two miles of Mina Railway-station, and should we be granted a permit there would no doubt be sufficient public interest taken in our annual meeting to warrant the running of a special train to convey sportsmen to and from the meeting, which would augment the railway revenue. You will speoially note that our programme is an open one, and each year claims the attention of horse-owners from all parts of Canterbury' and Marlborough. Our stake-list aggregates £100. with two cups added for gallops and trots respeetivelv. The balance-sheet of our club shows at present a credit balance of £50. Should you favourahlv consider our application the club's aim would be to erect extensive improvements on the course and increase stakes. Tn conclusion, the stewards wish to congratulate the Government on its effort to provide sport in country districts, as up to quite recently very little consideration to backblock clubs has been shown. You will no doubt fully realize that country clubs such as ours act in the capacity of bringing out numerous horses which afterwards find their way on to the metropolitan courses. Bn the Deputation. —Our present club has worked up from very small beginnings. We began with a stake of .£2 or £3, with a bridle or saddle thrown in. We have had tins and downs, but lately chiefly downs. Our races are run in the interests of true sport. Anything in the nature of malpractice at our meetings is immodiatelv investigated by the stewards. At present there is a population of fifteen hundred people closely settled around the racecourse, and any sporting gentleman who wants a bit of fun has to go forty-five miles to Amberley for it. We have a certain number of horse-breeders here, and our meeting gathers all the horses that are in training. Up to the present we have had to act as sports and provide the money out of our own pockets. We think that our efforts up to the present entitle us to n permit. Christchurch Racing Club. The headquarters of the club are at Christchurch. The club was formed in 1894. and is registered by the New Zealand Metropolitan Club of the district. The last meeting was held in May, 1911. A list of the present members of the club and a eopv of the last balance-sheet of the club have been forwarded. The circumference of the course is 8 furlongs. The tenure of the course is leasehold, being leased from the Canterbury Park Trotting Club for the days on which it holds its meetings. The accommodation provided for the public is of a very complete and substantial character, consisting of a large inside up-to-date grandstand to seat fifteen hundred people, in which are a large public luncheon-room, bar, kitchen with range and boiler for heating water; also a commodious stand for the outside patrons, with luncheon and tea rooms; a large tea-room has been built, in the inside enclosure, also ladies' and gentlemen's cloak-rooms; and a very fine stewards' stand in which are weighing-room, joekevs' room (with lavatory basin, &c). The saddling-paddock is very complete, having ninety-seven horse-stalls for the convenience of owners. all practically new. There is a splendid water-service on the grounds, and all lavatories are of an up-to-date character, both for inside and outside patrons. The course is fenced all round. The nearest club to ourselves i° the metropolitan club for the district, which is two miles distant. but the nearest country racing club is twenty miles distant, that being the Akaroa County Racing Club. We eater for a section of racing owners who arc - not in a position to compete at the metropolitan meetings, and in this direction supply a want in ihc interest of the smaller owner. By the Deputation. —We previously raced on three days in the year. and we lost all three under the last Commission—we feel, unjustly. Wo are a thoroughly sporting club, and we gave excellent stakes. There are only three small one-day meetings within a radius of fifty miles of Christchurch. In Auckland and the other centres there are any amount of suburban meetings going on. We have a considerable sum of tnonev on denosit in the bank, and we are in a, position to conduct a thoroughly good meeting. We think it is hard on the smaller ownerß that they should not have more facilities in this neighbourhood. There are lots of small owners who should be encouraged, but who under present conditions have very little chance of picking up a race at the big Canterbury Jockey Club meeting. We think we should have a one day's meeting at least, in the interests of the small men particularly. A man cannot race horses unless he is going to