THE ELECTRIC TOTALISATOR

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21533, 24 July 1935, Page 14

THE ELECTRIC TOTALISATOR

Work at Riccarton

Nearlv Finished

PREPARATION FOR GRAND

NATIONAL MEETING

Those who attend the Grand National meeting next month will piaco their bets in the new electric totalisator which is now practically installed at the course. The engineers and electricians at. Riccarton have made very rapid progress lately and the installation has reached the testing stage with a month to spare before the meeting. The finishing touches are now in hand i and every part of the complicated ma- \ chine seems to be working satisfactorily—how it was brought to this state of perfection is a story of amazing technical ingenuity and skill. The Riccarton totalisator is estimated to cost the Canterbury Jockey Club £12,000. The actual mechanism was priced at £7OOO, but. extensive structural alterations, made necessary by the installation, and the cost of labour and materials, will probably amount to the extra £SOOO. This expense is expected to justify itself with greatly improved facilities and with some saving in totalisator salaries. Forty Machines Forty issuing machines have heen installed at Riccarton for the convenience of Investors, each of them capable of issuing and recording win or place tickets. The selling windows have been somewhat decentralised, and bettors will be able to obtain tickets, win or place, at the main totalisator itself, at the grandstand totalisator, at the stewards' stand depot, or on the outside, and an additional depot is to be opened in the stewards' stand for the benefit of visitors. Each issuer Is complete in itself, driven by electricity and equipped with mechanical printing and recording devices. F.ach requires only one operator, and the mechanism is so ingenious and fool-proof that there is practically no danger of mistake. Any mistake in the issuing of a ticket must be the responsibility of the operator, but the printing on the tickets is so clear that the buyer could hardly fail to detect the error before he left the window. Ticket paper is fed into the machine from a roil mounted on the top casing, the operator selects the required number on the sector dial and depresses the handle after switching it on to either win or nlace preference, and the ticket is ejected, neatly printed with the horse number, the race number, tho marking "win" or "place," and the initials of the club. "C.J.C." Automatically the machine records the bet and convey;-; tho record to the horse unit above. Favouritism Recorded The actual calculation and display of the strength of the betting on a horse is carried out. by an adding machine somewhat similar in construction to the machines previously used at Riccarton. The calculating unit is attached to the barometer on the face of the totalisator which indicates to the : oublic the dividend the horse is paying. The bare-meter moves up or down according to the relative position of the horse, and as each ticket is purchased a change, however small, is made in the barometer record. The whole oroc-'-vs.s is perfectly automatic.

SOUTH CANTERBURY

JOCKEY CLUB

A .SATISFACTORY SEASON

The not prortt for the last year of th-j South Canterbury Jockey Club amounted to £IOB Ca lOd, according to the annual report. The sum of £21!) 7 s 3d had been written off on improvements and £ll3 12s 7d for depreciation on plant. The grow profit for the year wr.s £331 8s Bd, against £474 19s last year. The liabilities had been reduced from £2464- 19s 5d to £2038 t;>3 lid. The totalisator handled £34,518 10s, against £34,593 Inst year. Stakes amounted to £3475, a decrease of £25 on the amount given last year. On the grounds £28!) 2s 2d had been spent during the year, against £173 5.-; 4d 'ihe previous year. The report states' that .subscription.':; showed a very small falling off for the year, and the club could consider itself fortunate in being able to maintain its membership strength with that of the previous year. During the year, four days of racing had been held, all meetings showing a profit except the October i one. which was marred by rain. The club expressed satisfaction with the operation of the totalisation the 75-25 basis. The tracks at Washdyke had been kept in excellent order during the year, and trainers had been fortunate in being able to exercise their horses at times when other courses had to be closed. The Timaru Trotting Club had erected a licensed booth on the ground at, a cost to that club of £B5l 6s, for which the jockey club expressed its thank 3. Other improvements made were additions to the 'training scraping shed, an implement shed, and a shed for shelter for working horses.

In accordance with the rules, the following members of the committee would retire:—Messrs J. E. P. Cameron. H. Elworthy, H. H. Fisher, D. Grant, and C. H. Gresson. They offered themselves for election, and, as they represented no more than the required number nominated for the vacancies, a ballot would not be necessary.