LORDS AND "TOTE"

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 46, 1 September 1928, Page 17

LORDS AND "TOTE"

* APPROVAL GIVEN INTEREST OF BREEDING OPINIONS OF "BOOKIES" (From "The Post's" Representative.) LONDON, 27th July. There was an unusually large attendance at the House of Lords for the. debate on the motion for the second reading of the Eacecotfrse -Betting (Totalisator) Bill, which was agreed to without a division. Lord Hamilton of Dalzell explained that the object was to allow the setting up of the totalisator,.or pari-mvtuel, on racecourses, and to allow those responsible to regulate and control the admission of bookmakers. Neither of those things was permissible to-day, and racing had suffered severely in consequence. Incidentally Lord Hamilton warned the public against rash investment in totalisator propositions. "Nothing," he said,' "has been settled as to the type of the machine to be adopted. That decision will arise when the statutory body under this Bill has been set up. I am sure, however, that the Jockey Club and the National Hunt Committee representatives on the" board will never agree to the adoption of any machine, whatever its excellence,

if the terms on which •■ it is to be acquired will impose unfair charges on the public which uses it. I feel sure tho same considerations will influence tho other members of the board." He asked the House to pass the Bill, because it would enable racecourses to be cleaned up in a way which had never yet been possible, and because it would make funds available which are badly needod to keep British sport abreast of tho rest of the world. The word "totalisator," he added, seemed to him to be at least a syllable too long. He wished that the Bill could have shortened it. REJECTION MOVED. Earl Ruseell (Soc.) moved the rejection of tho Bill. He did not wish to dwell on the evils of betting. They were sufficiently familiar. The harm done to family life, to child' maintenance, to child welfare by betting among the poor was nearly as great as the harm done by excessive consumption of alcohol. He did not wish to see the Government take a hand in what he regarded as an unclean thing. He believed the Bill would never have been adopted by the Government but for the failure of the betting tax through wholesale evasion by bookmakers. They were installing on the racecourses mechanical bookmakers, because they could not get what they wanted out of the human ones. He did not wish to be. a partner in a bookmaker's business, and he thought it humiliating that the country should be placed in that position. Lord Desborough, who supported the Bill, said we hypocritically closed our eyes to the fact that betting had been going on from the time of Charles 1., and we could not stop. it. Speaking on

the anomalous state of the law, ho reniTked: "It seems to mo the only bookmakers who really carry oiit tho law are those who run off with our money, and are often found in the police cells adjoining racecourses." A NON-BETTING PEER. / The Earl of Lonsdale (C), speaking on behalf of the National Hunt Committee, said: "I am in rather a peculiar position,, because I am one of those connected with'the Turf whor never bet, and I am also interested in those who inhabit the racecourses as much as anybody." - ■■ Ho urged support'' of ths Bill, because he was certain that the "tote" would be of the greatest possible benefit to those who now betted elsewhere, generally because they could not afford to go into the ring and enclosures, and who generally lost their money. It would.also lead those who now saved up their money, as in many factories, in order to bet, to employ an individual, not to bet outside1 with the ordinary bookmakers, but with'the machine they could thoroughly trust. He' commended the Bill "in the interests of the Turf, of those who attend the Turf, and those who are unable to attend the Turf." LORD DEWAR'S COMMENDATION. Lord Dewar, in a maiden speech, supported the totalisator-for its effect on the blood stock industry, in improving conditions of racecourses, and its benefit to the Treasury. In time it would be a collector for the Treasury of largo sums of money. "It has been said,"he added, "that betting has gone on from all time, and will continue. It is an inheritance and foible of the human race, but it is not one of my recreations. This Bill will

assist to get under control tho ready money side of betting which at present is in a state of tranquil chaos. The totalisator will automatically collect money which is at present not being collected for the Treasury "There are two classes. Those who believe in betting and those who do not. ' Good laws como from bad customers. The 'customers'upon our racecourses are not so good as they are upon tho racecourses where tho totalisator is in force. It lacks tho persuasive methods of the human being. It stands before you speechless. It looks at you with distrustful face, like a cash register, and refuses to bet with you except for ready money, thoreby avoiding all that trouble.; and worry with credit betting, a pernicious practice which often ends, in misery. ACME OF TRUE DEMOCRACY. "This contrivance is a community bookmaker. It is the acme of true democracy. .It registers with unfailing regularity and mathematical calculation the public's exact individual share, minus the tax. The totalisator will bo the pivot around which all the betting market will' revolve. Its influence will put out of existence the dishonest individual, and will give prestige to the honest bookmaker, whom we want to see improve his position in every particular." The machine would be looked upon with mixed feelings by- racecourse gangs who infested meetings where they went to blackmail bookmakers. Tho welsher would have no opportunity of remaining in business with the mechanical honesty of the totalisator. In fact, the welsher, in-future, will be unable to give his clients a good run for their money," added Lord Dewai, who

finally commended the Bill for its enc.ouragement to . horso breeding . and' farming. : RACING AND BREEDING. Tho Earl of Derby (0.), as a nonbetting owner and breeder, regarded the- Bill from the point of view, not of betting or tax collection, but of the great industry of horse-racing and breeding. "Do away .with. racing, and you destroy at oncif and forever ' blood-stock supremacy," lie declared. "It is racing which eliminates the bad, and gives us that superiority in bloodstock which '■ we now possess in this country. Racing is my greatest amusement. It is a most expehsivo amusement, and one that is not getting cheaper. I race on a very large scale in this country, and with a partner, Mr. Ogden Mills, in France. It is somewhat startling to compare tho difference between the two. In England every racehorse, has to earn £650 in the year before it pays its expenses. ' lii France it has only to earn £.180' a year That is the difference in cost to the owner and breeder, and, to my mind, the difference is entirely attributablo to tho 'Tote.'" Sl ; Giving another 'personal instance of what the "Tote" did' for breeders, Lord Derby said he had the great luck this year, in partnership with Mr.1 Ogden Mills, to buy a horse which won the biggest .race in France, the Grand Prix. That horse was got by a Government stallion, for which there was either no fee or only a nominal one, because, with the money from the "Tote," the Government were able to provide all over tho. country well-bred stallions, and to put them at the disposal of breeders free. That was one of the ways in which the "Tote," would improve the industry. "1 hope you will pass the Bill," he concluded, "because I believe it will help an industry which is going through a bad time, an industry which brings" a lot of money into this country, and an industry which through . the sale of. its bloodstock, through ' entertainment tax, and through rates on racecourses, adds many hundreds of thousands of pounds to the national wealth." The House (says the "Daily Telegraph" Parliamentary correspondent) listened in breathless silence,to these interesting details. Lord Newton) in' one of his bantering speeches, said that he was sure that the people of this country would bo better pleased under a sporting triumvirate of Lord Derby, Lord Lonsdale, and Lord Dewar, than under any form of Parliamentary Government. He himself, is, of course, a strong advocate of the Bill, and of thoroughgoing reform, in our tetting laws.