"TOTE" COMMISSION.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLVI, Issue 100, 25 April 1912, Page 5

"TOTE" COMMISSION.

SITTING IN SYDNEY.

* L pKBSB ASSOCIATION. 1 J (Received April 24, 8 p,ju.) j &£DNEY, Aprils, j .The Totalisator Ck)mmisaioji ex-; ..ainined Mr Knox, chairman v.t .the, Australian Jiockey Club. He saidj fchat irom a club .point of view .the! "tote" would have, advantages .and1 - Jt . would cost £4Q,-' ■ 000. tQ instal the system at liaariwick.i ojq ..the other haxid it would Finable: .clubs..to increase the stakes. It would1 ievel .up the small .and raise th© higi <3tßkk.es. That would „prove a check ioc corrupt practices. Jfio was oppjoscsd1 .to .the "tote" if iiu meant Govern-1 mcmtaJLor political of racing. No vc d<?ubt a majority of race-goevs fi^vored the machine. It would re-i s;ult .in. suppressing the big punters J ana pjobably cause .*n improvement j in tine of , t thoroughbrodfc. 4fcojit ;£"00,000 yearly was bet sai Randwifik, apart fromi the expenses c-i .the, civb 3 which iiowdook £120,000 ! annually. If the Government got 1\ ' percent.! from the "tote" takings the club WQuld get about >£40 3 000 above its ;O^pewses. Mr j3ol. Green, ji bookmaker, thought ,£hat the "tote" would dc-1 teriorate u thoroughbfed'l.br^eeding. The, best mares:,were not bought 4 from New Zealand, wJiere the "tote'' 5 existed. If the New/jZealand houses sent here to be soM lihad been 'bre^d in New South "VYates or Victoria \ they could not have 'been bought sat any price. As a boilkmiker he absdlutely favored the 'Mtote;" providing 'tfe proprietary clubs got nothing out ot it. As a hsorseibpeeder he certainly opposed it. His betting tiu^u-Qver was about yearly. 'He-made a sporting offer that if the Government would guarantee 5 per eent-t/m his turnover he WQuld give 3$ per 'cent, of it to dharity. The spoft-fing of tsla« .'Sun newspaper approved of the !^tote," "because it was 'tfee best methofl^of bet-, ting, but bookmakers should ,be al-' flowed to compete with the 'machine for the good of the game. M.c est'i- j mated that 925/000-peoplo annually -attended race meetings around Sydney. \ The amount of 'betting at these -meet- , ings was abotrt' --£6,000,000. 'The] "tcfte" would malkerfor purer racing.! He'gaw no <.obj«fidaoe to women ?bet-! tisa-g. ;■ ■ ;■. ■;■■ '• v' .■. -: ■■;., ;.■ . ■''.': ;' ■ '