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CANADAS RACING TROUBLE. Toronto, Ont.. August 21. While there has been as yet no official intimation as to the course the provincial government will pursue In the event of an application for an Ontario license under the Dominion charter granted to the .Metropolitan Racing Association, it is learned that it is not improbable that the ministers, acting under a clause in the statute law amendment act. may decide to submit a case, to the courts to determine the right of the province to .Impose conditions not required by the original federal charter. The conditions in question would. It Is understood, relate to betting and bookmakiug privileges. The provincial government is conscious of the serious import of a refusal to grant a license lo the federally incorporated organization. Whatever the legal right of Ontario may be, it is safe to assume that the provincial ministers are loth to create a conflict by a direct refusal of license, anil would prefer If they have the power to grant a license under conditions which will make all monetary speculation and gambling impossible. Hence it is not improbable that the right of Ontario to impose conditions may be submitted to the courts. In any event this course would hang up the granting of the license for some months. Such a course would, it Is understood, have a wider significance than the case at issue, that of the Metropolitan Association. Under the British North America act the criminal code Is solely a matter of federal jurisdictioj. and the existing statute permits betting at race courses. This the province has no power to override, and any provincial legislation prohibiting it would be ultra vires. The Metropolitan Association has as yet made no application for an Ontario license. In any event It would not likely be dealt with till the return of Hon. W. J. Hanna, the provincial secretary, next week.
