THE FIRST TOTE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVI, Issue 176, 26 June 1926, Page 9

THE FIRST TOTE.

AND THE NEWEST MACHINE. AN AMAZING ADVANCE. DUNEDIN, Juno 24. Mr W. F. James, the totalisator maker, in moving from his old place of business in Moray Place to a larger building, came • across a curiosity in part of the framework and mechanism of a Schinnerling totalisator that was tho first of its kind to he used in Dunedin, having been installed in 1879, forty-seven years ago. This totalisator was a mere toy in comparison with the machines of tho present day, and many racegoers treated it as such, deriding" tho thought that it could ever win the patronage of the public from tho bookmakers. Tho full stretch of the Schinnerling totalisator was 4ft, and it was for only twelve horses, the figures that were run cn one at a time by keys in front, measuring llin. each. The' machine used by the Dunedin Jockey Club when Mr James became its totalisator manager is preserved intact, and constitutes a sort of halfway mark. It -was made for twentyone horses, and is 6ft. wide, tho indicating figures measuring 2Jin. x ljin. Tho newest machine at Wingatui, installed for races this month, has a span of 15ft. 6in., and its main frame is Bft. 9in. in height, its capacity being for twenty-four liorses. The figures arc sin. x 3Jin. each. But increased size is not only the superiority of tho new totalisator. It can indicate up to 99,999. It show's the jockey of each horse and its place at tho barrier, also tho dividends. Mr James is now building tho latest and biggest machine for tho Forbury Trotting Club, and ho lias constructed three or four for the Auckland Trotting Club.