IS THE GAME UP?

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1193, 31 July 1911, Page 4

IS THE GAME UP?

TEE BOOKMAKER. Sir,—A few brief remarks in reply to your correspondent "R. C. Hi'wson." After a somewhat laboured preamble he comes to the point—if there is any point—in his letter—it is ho has attended meetings (I suppose they wero race meetings, but lie does, not say so, and I fear they were not prayer meetings), and has failed to notice any of the tactics ascribed to the police in ray previous letter. lam sorry for "K, C. Hewson," and would remind him of the old saying, "There's none so blind as those that won't see." I fear, like Certain, detectives and policemen; your correspondent suffers from •' ''tote-betting blindness," and has the .disease very bad. He should consult one of our local opticians,- Ffobably if your correspondent walked down the thoroughfares ;of the city of "Wellington, lie could not or would not see any tote-betters hanging round hotel premises. - Does-he write to support the tote-betters, or on behalf of the: offending bombers of the.police force?. ,He shows .from lis letter he knows or.nothing of the existence of the 'totevbafcting evil, and I would respectfully suggest, instead" ol writing on a subject he confesses lie knows nothing of, he should devote liis. undoubted talents and, time ;to investigating some pathological researches, ,and publish the results thereof. They might bo •as..valuable' as his remarks on.-tote-ibet-ting, and the behaviour of the police. In the meanwhile ho should not try to obfuscate the issues I raised in my letter—but as it would be waste of time and no good purpose served to deal with all the irrelevancies in your correspondent's letter, I shall leave him to his own meditations.' Quantum sufiicit. A word or two .more, Mr. Editor, in reference to the police. The publication of my letter has, 'I hear, caused quite a flutter in the dove-cot of the puntors at the police station. My remarks went straight home, through, the frontispiece, I hit the bull's-eye, and made the ball ring. I Quite a wave of excitement passed through certain quarters, and many were the guesses as to the namo, of the writer of the letter, and as to where the information came from. If Jlajor-General Godley and a detachment of Territorials had made a sudden raid on the Polico Barracks, ho could not havo caused more commotion than existed among "the. doves" ou Friday last. I made h. point ctf visiting the l'rentham races on Saturday last and oh what a change! No detectives moaiidering round tho bird-cage nor following jockeys ,'about the paddock. Inspector -Ellisori'/was present, and I could hazard a guess he put some hot stuff, or cayenne pepper mixture, into his'instructions to the posse of polico that were on dutv on the course. Like tho detectives, on Saturday, they wero not hanging round the totalisator and copying notices into their pocketbooks as to overweight of jockevs and other matters from the blackboard ou tho stewards' stand. No, they were most of the time out moving among tho crowd, so much so that at times it was difficult to see a policeman. This is as it should be.

"When constabulary duty to be dono A policemau's lot is not a happy one." Some of tho well-known citizens weir also present, and some of them did not look too happy. Thero was a sort, of wintrr-pall-look "about their' countenances. Whether this was due to Mr. Bates's prognostication of approaching stormy and cold woither, or to tho knowledge that "tho gafi: had been blown," and soon their favourito pastime of street-punting would be at an end, is of little moment. It now rests with the inspectors of police and tho Commissioner of Police to see that members of the police force, both detectives and uniform men, do their duty in relation to tho street-betting nuisance, and if stringent measures are- taken by the' proper men—men who havo no betting transactions with the "bookies'- or tote-bet-tors, then the police will soon be enabled to hoist a flag above tho various police barracks on which may he printed in gold letters: "The Game is Up." Nous verrons. —I am, etc., ,NE FRONTICREDE. July 24, 1911.