Cleansing the Turf.

Hastings Standard, Volume XII, Issue 4130, 15 April 1909, Page 5

Cleansing the Turf.

THE ELLERSLIE INCIDENT. A.R.C. STEWARDS MEET.

} A meeting of the committee and [Stewards of the Auckland Racing i Club was held on Monday afternoon at Ellerslie to consider the adoption |of some course of action to protect I the public and prevent a recurrence i of the scene of Saturday last, when ■two bookmakers were mobbed. A : strong plea was made by Messrs A. |\\. Gordon and F. Earl that the ! stewards should be given full powers ;of inquiiy regarding the financial ! position of bookmakers applying to |be licensed. It was urged that if licenses were issued indiscriminately 'such action would lead to welshing, and that in turn to scenes of vio- ! lence, which would be a blow to racing generally. The Hon. E. Mitchelson said that while the committee was anxious to do all possible to conserve the interests of the public, the matter of [welshing, which had been prevalent i throughout the Dominion, was one ! that could only be dealt with by the I New Zealand Racing Conference, i It was too late to do anything more than had been done for the autumn meeting, and he considered it likely ithat the Act dealing with racing would be amended next session. I On his recommendation, it was dejcided to djfer further consideration of the question till the next regular 1 meeting of the committee.

THE WELSHERS.

Reporting the incident, the "Auck- | land Star" says : > Unfortunately, it is necessary to ! put up the above heading, for during S the afternoon two cases of welshing by licensed bookmakers occurred, j After Aborigine had won the Easter | Handicap, an individual was unable to pay out, and resorted to balancing. j He and his clerk were taken by the I police to the stewards' room, where • they were examined, but no charge | could be preferred against them, and ; the}- were let go. The second occurrence, which vvas after the last race, when another could not pay out, culminated in something of a riot, and had it not been that the police were in strong force, the p obabilities ! are something serious would have j happened. How long the clubs are i going to allow this sort of thing j to continue in order to gain their j own ends is beyond comprehension. j No consideration is being shown for | the public, who are entirely at the j mercy of these " blacklegs of the j tqrf." and that the authorities are content to tolerate the robbing of j their patrons in this wholesale man(ner is scandalous. As the Metropolitan Club of the province, the | Auckland Racing Club ought to act j up to the spirit of the law. and, although they do not want book- | makers on their courses, they should ! remember that there is a large section of the community who do not j want the totalisator, and instead of 1 obeying the law relating to the i machine, they should also act in a i fair-minded manner to the booki makers, and protect the general I public, who-are the unfortunate j sufferers while the question of Totalizator v. Bookmaker is being fought."

ICHRISTCHURCH COMMENT. RACING CLUBS BLAMED. Under the heading "The Seamy Side of Sport" and referring to the Auckland defaulting bookmakers, the "Lyttelton Times" says: "Of course the disgraceful scene which took place at the autumn meeting of the Auckland Racing Club will be laid totheqhargeof the much-abused Gaming and Lotteries Act. The f racing clubs have never looked with j much favour upon the amendment of \ the law which gives the bookmaker 1 a legal status on the racec urse, and we are afraid that some of them are glad of any opportunity to bring it into discredit. We do not wish to say # that the Auckland Club is among this number, but if must be I obvious to anyone who has read | the account of the disturbance at j-bllerslie on Saturday that the officials of that body were j largely responsible for what occurred, j They were under no obligation, to ! issue licenses to bookmakers who 1 could not show that they were of good character and that they were I able to- meet their reasonable en- | gagements. When the Gaming Bill was before the House of Representatives Mr Witty moved to make the issue of licenses optional with the racing clubs, instead of mandatory, but he was defeated by the narrow majority of two votes, and now if "the committee or other managing body " of a club is satisfied I that a bookmaker is " a fit and pro- | per person " to be licensed, it must admit him to its racecourse on payment of the prescribed fee. The " managing body," however, is given a very wide discretion in determining who is "a fit and proper )petson."and if the Auckland offici ials had exercised this discretion they [would not have allowed unknown men who turned out to be "balancers" jor " welshers," in the language of jour correspondent, to handle their J patrons' investments. The racing ; clubs derive a very considerable | revenue from the bookmakers, probably quite enough to compensate j them for the amount of money that ! is diverted from the totalisator, and : it isthdr clear duty to see that the men they license are decent members 'of their calling and possessed of I some means. They may bring the 'law into disrepute bv paving no j proper attention to these "matters, j but if Parliament should be called i upon to interfere again it may take it I into its head to effect reforms that I would be still less acceptable to the ! clubs. The totalisator does not stand so well with a majority of the electors that its friends can afford to invite a legislative review of its position,"