£10,000 IN ONE DAY.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3101, 9 January 1922, Page 8

£IO,OOO IN ONE DAY.

How a racehorse trainer made nearly £IO,OOO in one day with a horse that had been given him, was told in the District Court yesterday. , Louis Robertson, a (trainer and farm manager, was charged with having made false Federal income tax returns for the years 1916, 1917 and 1918. Mr Percy L. Smith prosecuted on behalf of the department, and Robertson was defended by Mr W. J. Mann.

J. T. Pinner, an accountant employed by tixe department, said that after demand had been made Robertson submitted „ a return showing that his gross income in each of 1916, 1917 and 1918 was £312, and that his net taxable income, was £lB5 in each yeax*. An investigation of his bank book showed that in 1916 his net taxable income was £2400 10/- in 1917 £676 3/2, and 1918 £3685 3/6. Robertson told Pinner that his salary of £5 a week would not pay his personal expenses and that he relied on punting for his income. Robertson had been allowed all possible deductions, including large sums paid to jockeys for riding engagements during that period, amongst which were the following : —Foulslxam, £SOO, Accola, £556; Dempsey, £590; Harrison, £450; Herbert, £392; and Bullock, £647. The story of Robertson’s large betting transactions and his rapid rise to fortune was told by counsel. Robertson, he said, came to Australia from New Zealand in 1908, bringing a few hundred pounds and a racehorse. He worked and made money until 1912, when a friend gave him a horse called Wingarra. Quickly appreciating its value,. he spent most of his time training the horse, and in the same year entered him for the Grand National Hurdle Race. Robertson backed the horse to win £6OOO, and was laid £IOOO to nothing by the drawer of the horse in Tattei’sall’s sweep. How Wingarra won the race was now history, and Robertson won £6OOO in bets, £IOOO from the winper of Tattersall’s, and over £2OOO in stakes. With the £IOOO he had saved lie had capital of well over £IO,OOO. In 1913 he joined A. and G. Tye and took over the management of their racing stables and stud farm, “Allendale,” at a salary of £5 a week and 5 per cent, of the stakes won by the stable's horses. For various reasons the Tye Brothers were short of ready > money, and Robertson agreed to conduct the farm with his money, pay all racing expenses, and make bets on the Tye Brothers’ behalf, receiving 50 per cent, of all winnings, and a refund ot all the expenses out of the firm’s half of the winnings. In 1912 the Tye brothers had box’rowed £3OOO from Robertson. In 1915 Robertson entered Lavendo for the Caulfield Cup, and the stable won £SOOO, Robertson’s share being £2500. Thes’fe winnings he lent to the Tye bi’others. From 1916 to 1917 Robertson lent further sums, until the Tye brothers owed him about £7OOO. During these two years the Ty© brothers did not collect from Robertson various winnings that amounted to between £3OOO and £4OOO. In November, 1918, Robertson left the Tye brothers, and in a final settlement they paid him £5935 on sums of money borrowed. No interest was paid. Mr Mann contended that Robertson was taxable onjy on his salaxy, because, according to a recent decision given in New South Wales, money won by betting’ by anyone who did not conduct betting as a business could not be taxed. Robertson relied on his salary to keep him, and not cn bis turf winnings. The sums of money paid back by the Ty© brothers consisted of Robertson’s capital, and also could not be taxed.

In fining Robertson £6O {£2o on each charge), Mr Phillip Cohen, M.P., said that a man who won so many thousands of pounds must have known it was his duty to submit returns and let the department decide what amounts were taxable.