RACECOURSE REFORM.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 15004, 28 May 1912, Page 8

RACECOURSE REFORM.

"BRING BACK THE BOOKMAKER." A meeting of interest to sportsmen will bo held in tho Town Hall concert chamber on Friday evening, when the Mutual Sports -Protection. Association will submit a series of resolutions bearing on the gaming laws to the sporting public. The association holds that the public who support tho sport of horse racing have not yet been given an opportunity of voicing their opinion on the various matters which concern them, and it is with a view to securing a definite opinion that the meeting is to be held. Tho local members of Parliament have been asked to attend, and Messrs. A. E. Glover and J. S. Dickson, M.P.'s, have already signified their intention of being present. The resolutions are as follows:

(1) "That in the opinion of this meet- i ing of Auckland sportsmen the totalisator fractions (tho amount remaining after the deduction of 10 per cent, on the total and the payment of dividends to successful investors), being money actually belonging to the public, shall in future be devoted to some public benevolent institutions. And that a copy of this resolution be forwarded to the Minister for Internal Affairs with a request that consideration be given to the amendment of the Gaming Act to give effect thereto." (2) " That this meeting of Auckland sportsmen, having in view the recent gaming prosecutions in this city, the impossibility of small bettors betting within their means on the totalisator, and the unfair position in which the country districts are at present placed, is of the opinion that in the best interests of the public who support the sport of horseracing the bookmaker should be reinstated on the racecourse to bet side by side with the machine, and that the public should be protected by the State liconsing of bookmakers and tho institution of a properly constituted New Zealand Tattersall's Club. And that a copy of this resolution be forwarded to the Minister for Internal Affairs, with a request that consideration bo given fcho amendment of the Gaming Act to this end." (3) "That this meeting of Auckland sportsmen considers that the Gaming Act should be so amended that the public interest shall be protected by the compulsory appointment of stipendiary stewards t.i every racing club holding permits for public betting. And that a copy of this resolution be forwarded to the Minister i for Internal Affairs."