Stolen Cup Is Cheaper Replica

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30270, 24 October 1963, Page 15

Stolen Cup Is Cheaper Replica

(A-Z. Freis AMoetatton— Copyright) MELBOURNE, October 23. The missing Melbourne Cup was a “stand-in” for the real £750 gold trophy, the chairman of the Victoria Racing Club, Mr Ross Grey Smith, said today.

"The stolen cup is made of silver and gold plated and is insured for £300,” he said. Mr Grey Smith said his committee had decided nine months ago to use a “standin" cup for display purposes because of the risk of theft. Each year since the centenial Melbourne Cup in 1900, the Victoria Racing Club had had two Identical Melbourne Cups made in case anything happened to the trophy before the race or in case of a dead heat. Because of the disappearance of the cup, the New Zealand Government’s new Tourist Bureau in mid-Mel-bourne became the mostpublicised address in the city this mottling. Thousands of people, who had probably never heard of the bureau, read of it today in front-page displays in Melbourne's newspapers. Cartoonists and columnists also had their say. The Melbourne “Herald" cartoonist, Weg, had a customs inspector saying to three shady-looking characters with the cup in the suitcase: “You New Zealand blokes are a bit premature.”

The “Herald" columnist, E. W. Tipping suggested that the cup thieves were patriotic Australians “trying to keep it in the country." Tipping wrote: "As we said when they first put the Melbourne Cup in the window of the New Zealand Tourist Bureau, they were pretty cheeky about it this year. The cup often finishes up in New Zealand, but it seemed a bit rough advertising it as a tourist attraction before a New Zealand horse actually won.”

The missing cup stood on a red-draped table just inside the door of the tourist booking offlos. Police today interviewed members of the bureau’s staff. They were told that three men who came into the bureau during the lunch hour might have taken the cup. A young receptionist told the police that while two at the men engaged her attention with an inquiry about a holiday in New Zealand, the third could have stolen the cup. Mr Grey Smith said the bureau had accepted full responsibility for the loss of the cup.