Sept.
No cause ever suffered a greater disservice than that which the opposition to greyhound racing has been done through the impertinent interference of the Nationalist officials. In writing to. the Senior Consul, Mr. Wunsz King was probably only carrying out orders, Why they were given him, has been explained in many ways, But we think there is no doubt, whatever that the main object was propaganda, a mean endeavour to show how much better the Settlement would be managed if it were under Chinese control, and to create odium against it abroad. The hypocrisy of the trick is repellant. There is no more prevalent vice in China than gambling and the Huai lottery alone, in which every little servant maid squanders her money, probably means more loss to the Chinese pop-lace in a month, than racing of every sort in Shanghai does ina year. There is the further motive that every opportunity is seized by Chinese officialdom io get its foot in in the Settlement. We dealt recently with the funetioning of Nationalist tax-collectors in Shanghai; and in other directions rights are—being claimed by Chinese officials and, which is worse, conceded, where once such attempts would never have been countenanced. We do not think the Council is nearly og firm in this respect as it should be, To put its foot down strongly may cause some -momentary discord and inconvenience, bue procrastination and timidity will cause far more in the long run, The sum total its has been to Jine up in defence of "the dogs" many who would otherwise he opposed to is not so much that it may mal gambling easier than other forms of sport, but that it adds 80 largely to the sum total of gambling in the district. Furthermore, that, apart from the gambling, it means practically nothing. If it were run solely as a spectacle, or to prove the cleverness and speed of one greyhound against another, how many people would frequent the course? Nor does it matter twopence to the world at large whether the breed of greyhounds is improved or not, an argument of undoubted force in hor racing. Whether greyhound racing is legal, we do not pretend to say, while lawyers still "ope not their ponderous and marble jaws." But, if illegal, why was it not prevented before ever it began? Those who are responsible for Luna Park' and the Stadium being given per mission to start operations must have known exactly what was going to happen. All the experience of America and England was available to them, not to mention, those countries, An tralia we believe is one of them, which refused to allow betting on greyhound racing tracks. To turn round now and descend upon the greyhound courses because they have produced results which could have been anticipat ed from the beginning is scarcely fair and looks uncommonly like trying to shift the blame for one's own mistakes upon some one else, We would not have it thought from this that we are in favour of greyhound racing. We think it does undoubted harm and we should. like to see it stopped. But'in all the circumstances of the.case, the promoters appear justly entitled now to claim that they, shall be permitted to. continue until they have gained a reasonable return upon their outlay. Probably a single season will suffice for that. As for ithe Chinese officials' interference, we hope it will be made quite plain to them that what-jover modifications of greyhound racing may now be enforced are the result of discussions which began long before their intrusion, as indeed is the fact, and that their moral ardour would be more profitably employed in their own wide and fertile fields,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.