SPORTING.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16273, 25 July 1918, Page 5

SPORTING.

RACING AND TROTTING

NOTES.

(BY "LOOKEB-ON.")

Tlio South Canterbury Hunt Club's Steeplechase Meeting, which will be held to-day, is the last fixture of the 1917-18 racing season in the Dominion. Timaru has not been affected by the recent spell' of bad weather, and with good going on the Washdyke course, there should bo some interesting racing. Sid Reid was again before a Military Medical Board last week and classed C 2. He has been engaged to ride Form Up in the Winter Cup. A Press Association message from Palmerston TS'orth states that the! Manawatu Racing Ciub on luesday night distributed £3113 for patnouc purposes, including*. lhe _ iing.i.sD (Jhurch Arnyy £SUO, Catholic i' Service Fund £500, Copper Trail —oOU, I Aotta Home (Egypt) and French Ked I Cross each £300, and Soldiers Fund £100. I For the nine races over jumps decided at the recent V.R.C. Meeting there were 106 starters, and 77 of them finished, which is a better average than was registered at the corresponding . meeting last year. A mild sensation was created among • racing men on Monday (says the ''AusI tralasian" of July - 20th) when it bc-

1 ' came known that one of the fences in : the Grand National Steeplechase course ; at Fiemington had been tampered with " • prior to the race on Saturday. -The .' jump in question is the _ third last • crossed in the Grand National, and is , : the last of the solid fences, the two > which follow being brushed. It is 1 situated near the training sheds. Who--1 over did the work was apparently an ! expert tradesman. The inside top ' ; panel of the obstacle was sawn almost ! through after the padding had been removed, the rail being left only suffil ciently joined to hold together, lhan • the padding was replaced and the fence ' presented its ordinary appearance. In ! the first round of the race tho fence I was crossed without incident, but in the second round Booligal, the leader, hit ' hard and lost several lengths. The . damaged panel collapsed, but instead of i falling outwards as usual landed on. the • take-off sido of the jump. [ (By "Seahchligtit.") 5 Tfio pacer Wallace Wood is doing " duty between the shafts of a carrier's 5 van, and has taken to his new duties - surprisingly well. Amongst those drawn in the latest ! ballot is G. Exton, the well-known ' Sockburn trotting enthusiast, r Mr J. B. N orris, secretary of the t New Zealand Trotting Association, received a telegram yesterday from Mr f H. L. James, asking that his name j. should be withdrawn from the list of . candidates for election to the Association, as no club had authority to nominate him. This reduces the nu.mIxam fflo ■fVi a QnntVi Tclonil

ber of candidates ror the bouth Island to nine, but an election will still be • necessary, as there are only seven 6eats for the South Island. Tho Commonwealth Government has • adopted an ingenious method of economising in the use of official envelopes. It has discovered that one big envelope , for the conveyance • of foolscap papers 1 can bo made to perform the duties of ' no fewer than forty-five, and the same principles can be applied to smaller enj velopes. It is quite unnecessary for ' the address on an envelopo to sprawl from end to end, and, consequently, : the Government has divided the front 1 and back, by means of printed' black I lines, into 45 spaces of about 2Jin s liin each, wherein fresh addresses may 'be written successively. The envelope j is never sealed, being secured by means i of a steel paper fastener.