DOG RACING. (Hansard, 14 March 1928)

§ Mr. BUCHAN

I beg to move, That leave he given to bring in a Bill to provide for the licensing of dog racing courses. I can explain the purpose of this Bill in two sentences. It is proposed, in the first place, that any new dog racing course, before it is opened, must receive, a licence from the local authority of the locality where it is situated; and, in the second place, it is proposed that existing courses shall receive a similar licence within six months after the passing of this Bill.

The principle which this Bill has been drafted to give effect to is a very simple one. I have no criticism to make of greyhound racing as a sport. It may be all that its supporters claim. It may be that watching a dog pursuing an electric hare brings the spectator under the healing and beneficent influence of a more primitive world, which, I understand, is the justification of outdoor sports. We particularly wish to raise no needless prejudice on this point, and I personally have very little sympathy with the temper of mind of anyone who is willing to crab another man's game merely because he has no personal interest in it.

As hon. Members are well aware, however, in the last twelve months dog racing has become a very large and highly commercialised enterprise. At this moment, I understand, no fewer than 154 companies have been registered to exploit it, and there is a danger that, whatever be the intention of the promoters, these race tracks may be turned into gigantic open-air casinos. To these courses very large crowds arc drawn from a very large area, and large sums of money are constantly passing from the locality into other hands. Such a situation raises a very difficult problem for the public authorities, but over this great and growing activity local authorities have, at present, absolutely no control, except in the rare cases where the Town Planning Act can be applied.

This Bill, as I have said, takes no exception to greyhound racing as a sport. All that it lays down is that, an activity with such wide and important and still imperfectly understood social implications shall receive a licence from the local authority concerned, on such terms as 1927 that local authority cares to impose. It may be asked why dog racing is singled out for this special control, when there are other sports in connection with which betting is also permitted. I think the right answer is, its great and increasing magnitude. There is no parallel at all between it and horse racing as conducted at the present moment. An ordinary race meeting is an occasional event dog racing is becoming a universal and habitual pastime, with almost daily fixtures. I have no love for unnecessary interference with the rights of the private citizen, but when any sport, I do not care what sport it may be, grows to such dimensions, it is surely inevitable that cognisance be taken of it by a public authority.

I am privileged to say that the principle of this Bill has the cordial support of a very large number of local authorities—I think I might almost say their unanimous support, for so far we have never heard of a single dissentient voice in any direction. Within the last few days the promoters of the Bill have received, in addition to a constant stream of resolutions from town councils, urban district councils, watch committees, housing and town planning committees, charitable bodies and religious denominations—in addition to these they have received resolutions of approval from the City Councils of Hull, Norwich, Sheffield, Coventry, Cardiff and Portsmouth, from the Conference of Social Work, which, as hon. Members are aware, includes representatives of almost every charitable and philanthropic activity in this country, and from that most important body, the Council of Municipal Corporations. The principle of this Bill, as I understand it, is an elementary principle of democratic government, that the locality should have authority in matters which vitally concern its well-being, and as such I submit it with confidence to the approval of this House.