THE MELBOURNE CUP.

Auckland Star, Volume XL, Issue 271, 13 November 1909, Page 9

THE MELBOURNE CUP.

=fßy FEAXKLAXD 'GODFREY.)

"Prince Foote's Year' will be re-mem- - Ijered as an ideally perfect day—a. day of genial W3rinth, a pleasant southerly the .vide liiii-surrounded S'.vard o f the famous Remington course glowins with rainbow hues under an azure eaiopy ligiuy flecked with baby pearlgrey "clouds—clou-is which drift away inland to the "eternal hills" soon after Jjish noon, leaving a vivid intense biue icane as zhs great race of the year is jnns The Victoria. Racing Club's proud * beast ijst the appointments for the cpmiort of visitors are now the finest in the world is amply justified; and Byron Moore, the doyen of secretaries, le oi the psrriarohal beard and youthful crrri3ge. must surely L-om'sine two entities —lhat of the mnbasf-ador. which fe pa;?nt ia his -eception of ssany of i> wirld's most famous men B na Vomen. am- taa-t oi a maiden lady 31 exaciir.ir principles, th- kind you know wcnM worlc into a "sampler" in Bnerrinjr stitch die motto. "A place tor everything, and everything ia its right Biace/' To-day I was oae of a concourse of Jtrell over a hundred thousand of all forts and conditions of rcen. yet. was there ao oi mob bin;; or jostling, ■sTid I did no! confine m v=e-if to the la.wn and hird-case. In rt.ese the out- ■ standing features are wealth r>? lovel" folia ip. the perfectly-kept lawns and terrace*, the parterres gay with a myriad Sowers, and. more important, still. ih-e unobstructed view 'obtainable from any part oi the huge "enclosure," prijof oi the infinity o± "loving care which has been expended to mnk<> this a thing beautinu." To evpatiato upon the accocuncAiuion. the- thousand little tiungstaat go %o malce up the ensemble, •sronld r.ee<i an of tris journal and ike pen of an auetione; r's descriptive •C3ta!os"::e writer. Lovely. T".-,.. i s the '•Hill." with its inearth ot T)l?astmt shade trees, hundreds ef whose rrequenters never look at the is«-:ng at ail, but picnic through a long summer -my, listen .to s. first-rat? hand, an.i indulge ;n tne harmle>* flutter of a thorjsji. there is a vastly larger seeiiGa of Hillites who are out for ths tnsiaess o: the day pure and simple. sSese sift th» chanc-es for and against <£ht> various perfermers in the va-st hipiw idrome spread out below fa.- more keenly than the wealthier bettors "under the elms," through w&ose leafy tops comes cp the roar of the rin" to mingle with the more ra-.ir-ous and insistent calls of the Hill tribe of bookmakers who fe_ r e tie huge Hill sta-nd so familiar, ■with its beetle-browed rorv of gables, in aE pictured presentments ef famous ■Elemingion. The carriage paddock to-day presents the appearance- of a vast motor' sxraze, and the carriages, in spite of ?he fact taat iiv? hundred stalls are ftjil of ciettlesome ea-Kie. are only distinguishable &r rare intervals among this fleet of destroyers <>f ;he old traditions of the road- ; The- "oatside" paddock, on the other hand, reminds one that the ?ort. at any rate, the *keb" is eying a hard death. They are packed so closely in their hundreds, cabs, jinkers, wagonsttes, and hawkers' wagons, that ie seeing nothing short of roarvellous thit Bhey could ever be extrica-ted cave as spKncered wood and scrap-iron. :Aeross xhe cool-green springy turf of .Che course proper and tne steeplechase course, with its formidable stone wall and heavily timbered jumps, a very different, scene, a scene a; remote from the fairyland bounded by its rose-festooned .fences which I have just left as the BCokehold on a modem liner from the pala.tia.liy decorated saloon. Verily Dives and Lazarus, but, as usual. Dives, his haif-gmaea hausheoa but half digested, doesn't- appear to have Lalf such a good ■ time a≤ Lazarus wroh hot Frankfort and roll in one hand and an ked drink in the other. Which reminds ma that winter and summer alike a great proportion of Melbourne natives apparently exist almost entirely on "Frankfors and roll, cad all 'at" and "iceeraam"— varied occa=ionallj by fchat freak in the masonry the stony-hearted meat pie. In Marke* in Sydney a year ago I watched two h'Ctle denizens of the Liverpoolpereet "Quariaer" eating alternate spoon33US oi icecream and hot peas—and purernng the "whyness," I conchade that tne imparted of attention be■tweea steaming hot and ice-coid food i≤ aeconated for to a great extent by th<> sadden variations of temperature experienced both here and in Sydney, or that tne palate is tiekltd by "contrast. The fact remains, at any rate, that the oniv xetreahmesU sold at tie swarms cf and trestle-tables on the flat toca ? tre "Tiankfort and roll,' , ice crea-n aHegeJ tea 3 and "pies." I saw not one' crunk OT ro-wdy out of all the va=t a ta.cz. vriich sa ys much for their innate good sense of orderliness wiaeh rendered the services-of the fcrmpolice officers present a sinecure lor .Jie nonce and a pleasant holiday OttEng. In addition to what one mar «all rhe ordinary police, some 30 or 40 saperbly-monnted mn of the force control ibi traffic an-* Weep the course dear, jririle periiaps half a iumdxed plain-

clothes men and detectives are mconspicuouslv- threading a maze of mugs and sharps.

The "books" on the fiat, whose name is legion, and whose coats are,, like Joseph"?, oi many colours, are strictly confined within the' limits of an enclosure, and each .man's stand is apportioned and marked wrth his name or pseudonym) on a board raised Bft or so aloft, so that they are easily found by the lucky individuals who spot a winner. The price;- laid "are not overwhelmingly extravagant, and the sums wagered vary from the nimble sixpence upwards through all gradations do gold; this, however, mostly percolates in from the Hil! and stand from confreres who have overlaid their books. Outside, on the Footser.iv Hills, they wager in cigarette cards and coppers with a "thrum" iimit!

Just now in Melbourne there is an ominous murmur against what, amounts to high-handed extortion, the toll levied by the licensed members of the book; making fraternity on all and sundry who desire to back their fancy. This desire, bp it noted, is almost universal among the happy, light-hearted thousands who attend this sacred function annually. The crying need of the introduction of the so long delayed by unscrupulous political wire-pullers oa behalf of their friends in the ring, and. for quite other reasons, by the opposition of the Council of Churches, who would appear at glance to hold a brief for the affluent monopolists with the leather lungs and bags, is to be seriously discussed at a conference of racing bodies to be held in ileV bourne before these lines appear in orint: and the mos-t influential daily journal in Australia, the Melbourne 1 "Age," is ence again proving steadfast to the cause that lacks assistance, by ably advocating the introduction of the ■'machine."' I remember the year before last, five mim:tes before Apologue won the coveted "pewter," looking over a well known shoulder. He had written a wager .",<jainst Lady Diffidence, which I fancied had an outside char.cc. I couldn't have picked a less fancied candidate, and, with the tons of money pouring in for tne fifteen or sixteen judged by the public to have a. "good ?ho\v," I expected at least a hundred to two or thereabouts. In v burst of overwhelming generosity, the apoplectic member of the iost tribe offered mc fours, and. this offer being treated with contumely, he lengthened, with the dreadful prospect of my half-sovereign escaping his grimy, bejewelled paws, to. the really handsome edds of nine to two, though, as he said, it wasn't "wagerin , ," :it was "charity"! The "tote" would have paid at least two hundred pounds on that investment, and I uttered a fervent prayer that his tribe might be no longer lost, but "gone before"' next Cud Day. In the "olla podrida"' of the Flat judiciously scattered about are the sharpfeaturcd. ferret-faced men that form all the year round an ugly blot on the Bourke-street pavement, between Swanston and Russell streets and the adjacent alley-ways, seeking what they may devour. To-day, however, they are not conspicuous: they "go to efface themselves," 3s the Gallic ph'.ase has it, and you will find them divided into separate units, each unit forming, as it were, the nucleus of a little group of country "blokes," these for the most part quiet, .-erious, sober, and sunburnt, on whom open-air graft has left the inevitable trade-mark. Mostly clad in sober raiment, blue predominating, are these I "men from the back," crowned with soft grey or black felt hats, but why bla<i: at. this time of the year is a mystery as .inI scrutable as the patterns of the ties with w iiich they adorn themselves. li.ubar Baksh, in slop clothes, earrings, and orange turban, rubs shoulders with Eongi Pareha, in ditto, only -much "noisier" clothes—with the inevitable, silver chain and greenstone pendant. Here, too, is Gregoro Papoulos (or words to that affect) of the Elizabeth-street oyster emporium, with his much bedizened wife and pretty gipsy-looking babies, cheek by jowl with the slant-eyed opium smuggler, Wun Lung, from "'Couuterpane Alley," Lii Buk' Stleet. These and a score of other nationalities mingle freely, yet ever remain as "sundered as the Poles." I note the "'Chows" don't wager much where there's no "machine." They're, shrewd, and ha no faith in the bookmakers' hieroglyphics—they like to back the numbers; "Baek'um horsee, no feah! Xo lik-em," was the literal reason given mc. Finally, a word on the racing. On the whole it was bright and interesting, and not so absolutely disastrous for "punters" as on Derby Day and at Caulfield. The sequence of favourites winning was broken by the Xew Zealand Xgauruhoe, a handsome brown gelding, who was much admired on returning to scale after easily beating Parsee (one of Australia's best) in very fast time. There was hardly room in the crowded weighing-enclosure . ■> hold burly "Bill" Keith and his wide expanse of smile as welL Xo accident marred the day, and the traffic arrangements were entirely satisfactory. In my own case, for example, I had two train journeys, one tram ride from station to station, and a ten minutes' walk to reach the fringe of the sea between Middle Park and St. Kilda. all done in fifty-five minutes from the time the winning numbers were hoisted at the finish cf the last race. A satisfactory ending to-an eminently satisfactory day.