Aug. 2
It should be clear by now t the management of the Can! drome that there is no little degree of dissatisfaction on the art of certain sections of the public with some aspects of the question of how the greyhound racing is being run, and it would seem that it would be well advised to answer the criti which have been levelled agi it and, where reform is necessary—if indeed it be—carrying out the needed adjustments. It is not intended at this juneture to refer to the form shown by the dogs.
Whether a dog, having reached the - top of his fami, should retain it for a con-Siderable period or not is a matter of opinion at the worst, and at the best dependent upon imponderable factors the interplay of which upon one another may not always follow hard and fast rules. The matter is also one which more nearly concern the owners of. the dogs than the general public if the sport of the Yacing itself is of more. importance than the gambling, and there is good ground for: believ-faction with the manner in which the dogs are being raced, lor their form, or their main: tenance, those are things which lup to a certain point can best be dealt with by representation by the owners to the management. This argument, of course, only! applies if the greyhound racing at the Canidrome is run primarily run for the sole public purpose of gambling then it becomes a matter for the public, no matter Ihow privately the conditions of the racing are arrived at.
'The conclusion is inescapable from facts which have emerged in' the past that, however much the greyhounds' are raced for ithe purposes of pure sport, the Jambling element is by no means absent and may be said with reason to comprise a very large portion of the general scheme. Facilities for the pari-mutuel land cash sweeps, to which any member of the public attending' ithe racing may subscribe, form a ye iderable part of the Canidréme's establishment and is no stretching of facts to laver that public gambling and ithe profits to be derived therefrom are the Canidrome's principal raisons d'étre. The public! fare, therefore, entitled to know exactly under what rules the racing is being conducted. [AMiliation to the National Greyhound Racing Club implied 1 its rules were adopted and such degree of control as could exercised by the Club was applied to. the Canidrome. lone time it_ was indicated tha such aviation existed and this served to convey the impression to some of the followers of the sport, if not to all, that a very definite code was applied to the sport locally. It appears now that if there ever were any such affiliation it has ceased and that the racing at the Canidrome is being conducted in accordance with the rules of the Natior Greyhound Racing Club "as jas possible." There is gulf between affiliation and such state of affairs, and the public is, first of all, entitled to know if) the Canidrome was ever affiliated, as stated; if there were. such affiliation, why it ceased, if indeed it has ceased; and why, if no such affiliation ever took place Iwhy it was stated that it, had. Secondly, the public are entitled {to know on the latest announce-_ ment of the Canidrome the degree of proximity involved in ithe statement that the racing is: conducted in accordance with the National Greyhound Racing Club "as far as possible," and who are the judges of distance in this respect. In short it is) ldesited to know what rules of ithe N.G.R.C. are being applied Jand what rules, if any, are being. fused to complement' them. If the Canidrome raced under its lown rules, so long as the public Iwere fully apprised of what they Iwere, it could have no possible ground for complaint: the present state of affairs, however, is uncertain and not conducive of general confidence, The remedy seems to be in the hands of those managing the racing.
The question of the nonpublication of the racing book! until 8 p.m. of the evening on which the races take place Is another of importance. It is: desirable for obvious reasons that the greatest possible public ity should be given to the programme of racing. Publication fat so short an interval before it is to commence means that the public attending the meeting Jeannot be informed of what is to take place until they are factually on the spot. 'Those firing to bet are, perhaps, prevented from using' that riper judgment which it is believed feomes from study of form, but apart from that it is a matter of lof speculation as to what would happen to racing in any place in ithe world if the programme meeting were available only on. the day on which it was to take place, half an hour or so before the first race. It is not desir-lable to investigate the motives suggested in some quarters for this departure from the origi procedure: they are matters with
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.