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club in a sound financial position. This application is supported by the signatures of the secretaries of the following clubs : Southland Racing Club, Wairio Jockey Club, Riverton Racing Club, Wyndham Racing Club, Gore Racing Club, Tapanui Racing Club, and Winton Jockey Club. By the Deputation. —Our hunt has been going continuously for twenty-eight years, subsisting chiefly on the generosity of the good sports of the district and its members. The Otago Hunt, may travel farther than we do, but we think we hunt a more extensive district—that is, from point to point. We claim a fair measure of success in breeding the class of horse that the Government are so anxious to keep going—namely, remounts. Of the thirtj'-three horses offered here to the Army Remount Officer 80 per cent, were bought. We have more than held our own m the field of sport. For example, in 1909 the Dunedin Jockey Club decided to put on a steeplechase and has since held twelve races, and twenty-seven places—first, second, and third—have been secured by the Otautau district. The Otautau district won eight of the twelve steeplechases. In a scattered district like this we are at a decided disadvantage financially. We have been helping ourselves as far as the limited means at our disposal would go, and we have kept going. For a few years we could not even keep our pack together in the off season. At the present time we have a good pack and suitable kennels. We have fourteen and a half couples of hounds. We have several good stallions in the district, and breeders are making as much use of them as they can, but at present there is not, much inducement for them to do so. If our hunt gets a permit it will, undoubtedly give an impetus to breeding a good class of horse. We hunt over practically the whole of the Wallace and Southland Counties.
TROTTING CLUBS. Waikato Trotting Club. The headquarters of the club are at Hamilton. The club was formed in June, 1907, and is registered with the New Zealand Trotting Association, Christchurch. The last meeting was held in 1913. A list of the present members of the club and a copy of the last balance-sheet have been forwarded. The course is owned by the Waikato Agricultural and Pastoral Association. The circumference is 8 furlongs 60 yards. The tenure is leasehold, and is leased to the South Auckland Racing Club for a term of twenty-one years, with rights reserved for the Waikato Trotting Club. The accommodation consists of three grandstands, totalizator-house, dining-room, lavatories, &c. The course is fenced on the inside. The nearest clubs having a totalizator permit are Auckland, eighty miles distant, and the Te Aroha Jockey Club, distant about thirty-five miles. The nearest club not using the totalizator is the Waikato Hunt Club at Cambridge, fifteen miles distant. The special claims set forth by us for a totalizator permit are that we are one of the three trotting clubs in the Auckland Province, a district comprising a quarter of the Dominion. The two clubs which are already licensed in this district are a few miles from the City of Auckland and about eighty miles distant from the Waikato Club at Hamilton. To the south the nearest trotting club holding a meeting is in the Palmerston .North, district, about 250 miles distant. The Waikato is the centre of the breeding of trotting-horses in the Auckland Province, and a totalizator permit would greatly stimulate the breeding of a good useful class of horse suitable for all classes of harness work, and an animal which is found to be the best adapted for military purposes. By the Deputation. —We have run. meetings for four years. The last meeting was held without the bookmaker, but we find it is absolutely out of the question to run these meetings without the revenue from either a totalizator permit or the bookmakers. Trotting is goingahead, and there are a great many more breeders in the district than there were a few years ago. Even the Auckland clubs recognize that if- would be Of assistance to them if there was a club here with a permit, as it weuld serve to feed their district. We can say that if a permit is granted this club will have the use of the racing club's course and appointments at a rental to be agreed upon in order to allow the trotting club to start right away. The racing club will give us a five or ten years' tenure if we wish it, with a right of renewal. The racing club has a life interest in the property for racing purposes from the Agricultural and Pastoral Association. We did not run a meeting last year because we could not see our way to do so at a profit. We have some of the best-bred trotting-horses about here, and we have men breeding horses for trotting. The Waikato is the best breeding-ground for the Auckland and Otahuhu clubs. There are a great number of horses bred in the district by farmers and farmers' sons, who are anxious to have a meeting here to see if their horses are any good. There are also in the district twelve well-bred trotting-stallions from Christchurch and two from America. There are twenty men in the Waikato who breed their own horses and import their stallions. The mares are not quite up to the mark, but a permit would encourage breeders to import a better class. At present it is too far to take untried horses to Auckland. We would also point out that the Province of Auckland comprises at least a quarter of the Dominion, and that in that province there are only two totalizator trotting clubs. Poverty Bat Trotting Club. The headquarters of the club are at Gisborne. The club was first formed in October, 1912, and is registered. The last meeting was held in March, 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 8-J; furlongs. The club holds its meeting at the Gisborne Park Racecourse, Gisborne. The accommodation consists of stands, jockey and ambulance rooms, all conveniences, and thoroughly up to date in all respects. We have special permission from the Gisborne Racing
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