TOTALISATOR CHANGE

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 77, 1 April 1931, Page 8

TOTALISATOR CHANGE

MARLBOROUGH DECISION

CRITICISM IS ANSWERED

'■'So far as the totalisator turnover is concerned, ifc may be of interest to vneubers to know that we are on exactly Hie same footing as similar or better, clubs "than ourselves," remarked Mr. ]?. I 1". Keid at the general meeting oE the Marlborough Racing Club last Friday afternoon, when the question was affirmatively decided as to whether it was'advisable for the May meeting to be held. Mr. Keid went on to quote figures in support of his assertion, but before doing so he referred to certain criticisms and suggestions that had appeared subsequent to the Summer Meeting (says the "Marlborough Express"). "We were subject, after last meeting, to some considerable criticism with regard to the conduct of the club's affairs, and in fairness to those members present who are not on the committee I would like to point out certain facts in connection with it," Mr. Reid said. "Some may have read that report and felt that all was not well with the management of the club. I do jiot quarrel with the right of the Press to comment, but some of the facts on the other side have not .been put. "For instance, in making a tabulated comparison of the totalisator turnover at the Summer Meetings for the.past eight or nine years," Mr. Reid said, ''no mention was made of the fact that down to 1927 our Summer Meeting was part of a circuit of meetings, with Nelson racing a week before us. Horses came on from there, and it helped to contribute to the success of our meeting. In 1927 our totalisator turnover, in round figures, was £23,000. In 1928 Kelson abandoned its Summer Meeting, and took to racing be- . fore ns in May, and in that year our turnover dropped £5000 from £23,000 to £18,000. That drop was unquestionably attributable simply to the fact that the Nelson Club ceased to race in front of us, and the same number of owners were not prepared to Come across the Straits for two days' racing.' That has been borne out by the subsequent lack of success of the' Summer Meeting. Last year we dropped to £14,000, and our nominations were not as good as the previous year, when -we put £18,000 through the machine. COMPARISON OF RECEIPTS. "Further, in the table, comparison was drawn between last year's. totalisator receipts of £14,000 and this year's total of £6875," Mr. Reid went on. "But the fact •was overlooked, in making that comment, that last year we had eight races and this year seven, so that, comparatively speaking, our drop, taking out two races, one; on each day, was from £12,700 to £6800* or less than SO per cent. It has been suggested that that drop could not be, attributed alone to the slump. "One question that has been freely commented upon, of course, is the failure* of the club to adopt the 10s totalisator. It was suggested in the particular repoift to which I am referring that the club's executive had relied on wholly unreliable information in considering this quest/on. 1 may say, as a member of the particular committee that dealt with the' subject, that we had expressions o£ opinion, from all over New Zealand, and I am perfectly certain that those expressions oE opinion could be made available, to any member, who would find that opinions for and against the 10s tplalisator are vary evenly divided down to the present time. Clubs in the large centres favour it p but the majority of the small clubs, sijtch as our own, are against it, or have been in the past. ' TEN-SHILLING TOTALISATOR. The speaker went on to qviote examples 'of clubs which had had experience with the 10s totalisator. The Re»ngitikei Club, he said, which ran a very popular meeting in the centre of a Jaiige and thickly populated district, changed, over from the £1 to the 10s totalisator. tast year it put through £25,530, and t'Ais year only £12,700, a-drop of a little more than 50 per cent. The Dannevirkje Club, of similar size, or bigger than the Itlarlborough Club, and which raced within the last two or three weeks, and at the same time last year, dropped from £23,958 to £10,930. "From these figures, and taking those clubs as a comparison,, you will see that our drop in totalisator turnover is in keepins with, in fact in one case slightly less than, with similar clubs in the Dominion," Mr.' Keid .continued. "That is being borne .out .everywhere.. JThcre is no question about what it is attributable to —the. economic conditions, and nothing else. I feel members should have these .figures before them and know exactly what the position has been. I personally think we are in a positron where it docs not very much matter whether we have a £1 or a 10s totalisatoff. Personally, I have always favoured the 10s 'tote' as an individual, and still do, but I have not felt it would be in the club's interests to make a change. However, this might be a proper time to do so." At a meeting of the committee held immediately after the general meeting, it was decided to adopt the 10s totalisator for the forthcoming: meeting.