52 RACING. 



In 1879 Mr. Anderson succeeded in passing the Metro- 

 politan Racecourse Bill, the object of which was to prohibit 

 racing within a radius of fifteen miles from London: Kings- 

 bury, Bromley, and West Drayton being the chief culprits at 

 whom this bolt was hurled, and they met with but little sym- 

 pathy in their well-deserved fate. Nevertheless, it is a some- 

 what ridiculous fact that in this instance the time of Parliament 

 was devoted to animated and angry discussion on a Bill which 

 at best can only be regarded as a posthumous Act ; the Jockey 

 Club having already, with a view to the abolition of these very 

 meetings, passed certain laws, fixing the minimum of added 

 money to be given to a day's racing, so that before Mr. Ander- 

 son's Bill came into operation, the above-mentioned meetings, 

 with others of like character all over the country, had actually 

 been smothered out of existence. 



Temperance societies, eager to have a finger in every pie, 

 are now constantly urging individual members of both Houses 

 of Parliament to place racing, or the licensing of racecourses, 

 under the control of some local authority, though whether that 

 local authority is to be wielded by magistrates in quarter 

 sessions, by county councils, corporations, boards of guardians, 

 or some still-to-be-devised local authority, has not yet been 

 clearly manifested to the expectant community. 



To ordinary minds, however, it seems that the only bene- 

 ficial method by which Parliament could exercise a control over 

 racing would be that of bestowing some form of incorporation 

 on the Jockey Club, and having thus asserted its supremacy, 

 the Legislature might well leave the general management and 

 direction of turf matters in the hands of that body, which for 

 a hundred and thirty years has held an undisputed authority, 

 which now rules over many thousands of the inhabitants of 

 the kingdom, and whose laws and regulations, obeyed and 

 respected here, receive the sincere flattery of imitation from 

 other countries. 



