Dogs Are Useful At

Rarotonga’S Race Meeting

From Our Own Correspondent

Rarotonga, Jan. 30.

THE island race meeting was held at Nikao on January 8. A down pour of rain during the morning mar red the outing and conduced to many people staying away. No charge is made for admission, so numbers do not much matter although actually there were about 500 people present.

A feature of island gatherings such as this is the noticeable neatness in dress and colour displayed by the nat ive women and girls.

The meeting is held on the beach.

At Rarotonga there is no cleared area of sufficient size for a racecourse.

A Union Jack, hoisted on a pole sunk into the sand (it resembled Amund sen’s flag at the South Pole) denoted the starting point, as well as the fin ishing post. A second flag, about half a mile along the beach, marked the turning point for each race.

About 20 horses competed. Many had the finishing touches put on them by a morning’s work in the planta tions—dragging a plow. The Inspector of Police (Mr. Caldwell) acted as star ter by dropping a white handkerchief.

Jockeys differed in weight from about 5 to 10 stone. Strangely enough weight is not taken into consideration at all by our racing officials.

Records, which come to light only when local racing matters are working up to red hot pitch, disclose the infor mation that many of our jockeys (now on the retired list) have been somer saulted off their mounts in the saddl ing paddock and some hooked under

the chin by clothes lines strung be As a matter of fact, it is scarcely correct to refer to a saddling paddock.

The jockeys ride bareback. The usual form of bridle is a piece of rope with one end knotted round the lower lip of the horse. Bits are a rarity.

The Rarotonga Cup (presented by Judge Ayson) was won this year by a horse owned by Taripo. A dark mare, owned by John Tuapai, fancied by some, unfortunately fell over in the and was not seen again until some time after the race finished.

Native spectators climbed the iron wood trees to obtain a bird’s eye view of the finish. Others waded into the lagoon and perched themselves on rocks for an unobscured view of the dash past the judges, Many dogs joined in the race at the second furlong, on the outward stretch, and did much to keep the rear horses from falling too far behind. From the vicinity of the finishing post one could scarcely make out just what was hap pening between jockeys, horses and dogs in the piece of scrub surrounding the flag at the turning point for home, The refreshment stall conducted by the local picture house proprietor, Mr.

W. Browne, appeared to do good busi ness in ice cream, apricot pie and water melon.

An orchestra provided a variety of musical items, which everyone enjoy ed. There were no swindles, broken punters or fashion parades.