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them out. The only outside support we have ever had was the revenue from the bookmakers when they were licensed. We hope in time to shift our course to the agricultural-show ground. We feet confident we can come to an amicable arrangement with the show people. If we get a permit we know we can run a very successful meeting here. Our meeting is very popular not only in this district, but also in the Nelson District. We get from six hundred to eight hundred visitors from the Nelson and Motueka districts. Our meeting is a little outing for the Nelson District. To show what our attendance is we took £75 at the gates at our last meeting. Our prices of admission are —adults 25., youths Is., and children free. We think that as we have carried on for so many years without any outside assistance, and as we are so far removed from any other racing centre, we are entitled to every consideration now. We have always conducted our meetings on good clean lines. There is no doubt that the quality of the horses in the district has deteriorated owing to the lack of inducement to breed and of opportunity to race. We have for years fed the Nelson, Blenheim, and Coast meetings. A permit would do a vast amount of good to the district in improving the breeding of horses suitable both for racing and remount purposes. Karamea Racing Club. The headquarters of the club are at Karamea. The club was formed twenty-five years ago, and is registered. The last meeting was held on the 26th December, 1913. A list of the present members of the club and a copy of the club's last balance-sheet have been forwarded. Our racecourse is situated in the heart of Karamea, and about six months ago was ploughed, levelled, and sown down in English grass, making it one of the best on the Coast. The circumference of the course is 6 furlongs. The tenure of the course is leasehold—ten-years lease with option of renewal. The accommodation is very good, consisting of judge's box, stewards' room, weighingroom, jockeys' room, and loose-boxes. We have suitable stand accommodation along the rails. The erection of a grandstand is at present under consideration. The nearest clubs using the totalizator are at Reefton, 120 miles distant, and at Nelson, 120 miles distant. The nearest club not using the totalizator is at Murehison, 150 miles away. For the following reasons we ask for the granting of a permit : Karamea is a dairy-farming district, and it is almost impossible for the settlers to participate in the sport elsewhere; three-fourths of the horses competing at out last meeting were bred in the district. Our club has struggled for years to encourage the breeding of thoroughbred horses, and year after year has increased the stakes with that end in view, with the result that to-day the all-round quality of the Karamea horses will compare favourably with those of any other district in the Dominion. Another very important reason why we should have the totalizator is this : the population is composed of settlers, miners, and bushmen (with an entire absence of spielers, &c, which are found in the bigger centres). To these people our race-day is the gala day of the year, the only occasion during the twelve months on which they are privileged to see a horse-race, and on that day they will "back their fancy," and if detected will pay the penalty. Now, is it right that these men, the backbone of the country, should be made criminals for doing what the more fortunate dwellers in the cities have a legal right to do—viz., "back their fancy"? The amount of stakes and their allotment are fully set out as follows : Maiden Hack, £10, one mile; Flying Handicap, £15, quarter-mile; Oparawa Trot, £20, one mile and a half; Karamea Cup, £40, one mile and a half; Wanganui Trot, £30, two miles; Kongahu Handicap, £15, seven furlongs; Simpson Handicap, £20, one mile: total, £150. By the Deputation. —We have raced in this district for twenty-five years. We have raced on the beach and on different parts of the paddock where the present course is. We consider we are entitled to a permit, inasmuch as we are a community of. about one thousand people who have no other possible means of participating in sport outside our own district owing to our isolation and the fact that we are a dairying district. We have conducted very successful meetings. This year we have eighty members at £1 Is. subscription. Although we are so isolated, for our meeting last year we had seventy entries, and nominations were received from as far as Collingwood, Greymouth, and Westport. Last year our stakes were £150, and that when there was no prospect of our getting a permit. Our track has been considerably improved, and if the club is granted a permit we are willing to make whatever other improvements may be considered necessary. We have had plans prepared for a grandstand and officials' rooms. We have endeavoured to carry out the sport of racing as it should be carried out, and we have been congratulated by visitors on the way we have conducted our meetings. Our main point is that we are 120 miles away from the nearest racing centre, which is Reefton. Westport has not raced since it lost its permit, although we have been doing so. It is impossible for the settlers here to go away in the summer months and enjoy a day's sport elsewhere, as they are milking and cannot spare the necessary time. We are a sporting community, and we think we are entitled to a clay's sport under better conditions than exist at present. Our district at present is only partly developed, and we have great resources in the back country, and great possibilities in the event of our getting a connection with. Collingwood and Tadmor districts. A. bridle-track is now being surveyed through to Tadmor. We also have mineral deposits about which we are very sanguine. We wish to emphasize the fact that every settler in the district is bona fide, and that we are merely asking for the privilege that the people in the larger centres enjoy. We think it is a hardship that the people who pioneer this rough and isolated portion of the country should be deprived of the privileges of a sport of which they are very fond. We want a considerable amount of assistance in this district to enable us to enjoy a sport that is easily accessible to the people in the larger centres. Murciiison Racing Club. The headquarters of the club are at Murehison. The club was formed about the year 1880, under the name of the " Hampden Racing Club." The club was registered prior to 1900, and is