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Colony although many other clubs also provide facilities for the sport. The first swimming races were organized by the Victoria Recreation Club as long ago as 1866 and galas have been held every year since then with few exceptions. Aquatic championships open to the Colony are held annually at the Victoria Recreation Club along international lines and large numbers of enthusiasts compete.

Swimming interport meets were first arranged annually with Shanghai and later Tientsin was invited to participate to make triangular tournaments but these contests stopped over ten years ago and it has not been possible to revive them. Since the war Hong Kong has engaged Manila in two competitions and although honours have been shared, there is no doubt that the standard of swimming is higher in that city owing to the excellent conditions for competitive swimming which are available in the Philippines. Paradoxi- cally it appears that the great number of beaches available to the public and the consequent small number of swimming pools are responsible for the general standard of swimming in the Colony being lower than it should be, for talent in competitive swimming can only be developed to its fullest potential in swimming pools. It is of course true that the vast majority of people in the Colony are interested in swimming more as a week-end recreation on the beach than as a serious competitive sport.

Horse Racing

The Hong Kong Jockey Club was not founded until 1884 but racing was actively engaged in long before that date. Dr. Eitel in his "History of Hong Kong" mentions that race meetings were held in Macau in 1842 and 1843. Racing first started in the Colony in 1844 but the first recorded annual race meeting was held in 1845. This, and subsequent meetings, were organized by a group of sporting gentlemen who formed themselves into what was known as the Hong Kong Race Fund. Various breeds of horse-flesh took part including Arab, Sydney, Cape, Manila, English, Japanese and China ponies and horses. The times on the whole were considerably slower than those of the present day. In 1851 a sensation was caused when a Sydney horse was taken out of a buggy and raced to make up a field. In 1848 the Wong-nei-chong Stakes, the Valley Stakes and the Ladies Purse were inaugurated, these races being perpetuated in the Annual Meeting Programmes of to-day.

The year 1856 records the first race run exclusively for China ponies, and all riders were Naval or Military Officers. There is no record of the weights carried, but there is the significant remark "Won easy-all bolted" against this historic event. For many years all ponies racing were pure

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