THE JOCKEY HAYES V. THE AUSTRALASIAN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 9488, 18 April 1894, Page 5

THE JOCKEY HAYES V. THE AUSTRALASIAN.

■ ♦ » The hearing of the action brought by James Hayes against the proprietors of the Australasian, in which the plaintiff claims £3000 damages, was still unfinished when the Talune left Sydney on the 11th inst. In the evidence submitted by the defence no less than ten jockeys deposed to the unfairness of Hayes' riding, while a number of constables testified to the low associates he kept and the existence of the Hayes "push." The interest in the action reached its highest pitch when Mr. Purves, Q.C., commenced the cross-examination of the plaintiff. The cross-examination was a very lively one, and elicited evidence, a portion of which might fairly be described as unfit for publication. Mr. Purves elicited from the plaintiff that from August, 1890, to July, 1893, he had earned about £5000 by riding, and had won close upon another £3000 in bets. Yet the plaintiff admitted that in 1892 he was a defaulter for about £400. He could not remember to whom he had owed this money, but he paid it all with the money got from Mr. George Davis, M.L.0., who paid him £210 which he owed for riding throughout the season, and from his father, who made up the balance, £182. No questions could recall to plaintiff's mind how long he was a defaulter, or to whom he owed the money. He emphatically denied that Mr. Davis gave him £218 in order to enable him to ride in the Newmarket Handicap on the following day. " Why did you remain a defaulter when Davis owed you this money asked Mr. Purves. " Because," was the answer, " the men 1 owed it to were men with whom I had done betting with before, and they told me I need not worry." It transpired, how«v<sr, that two of his creditors did have the plaintiff before the V.B.C. committee, but even that did not enable him to remember how much he owed.