THROUGH AMERICAN SPECS.

NZ Truth, Issue 533, 4 September 1915, Page 9

THROUGH AMERICAN SPECS.

The Great Australian Ass. A Yankee__w_ho . .recently. . travelled, through Australia writes as follows to an American journal on horse racing m and around Sydney: The most baneful institution is undoubtedly the horse-racing craze which keeps a large proportion of the population poor. There are ten race tracks within the metropolitan boundaries of Sydney* and eight more between the capital and Newcastle, 104 miles. Just imagine every little one-horse town along the railroads m America having a race track with races twice a month, attended by throngs from far and near. Wyong, with a few hundrejd people, has a large race track. Tuggerah, two miles off, consisting of a "hotel," a general store, and a few houses, has another. Gosford, a little sleepy burg that has PASSED THE CENTURY MARK with still less than a thousand 'people, has its trackmeets. Seattle, with its progress boasting more miles of thoroughfares than all the cities of Australia put together, could not stand the demoralising effect of the meadow race track, and abolished it. But here every unprogressive village possesses what 1 neither Seattle nor the cities of California could stand. Many advocate the adoption of, the totalisator, a device originating m New Zealand, where part of the profits plucked from the public is diverted to the State. ' This is opposed by two factions, viz., the church, or wowser section of the public, as it would give State sanction to gambling, and the touts, blacklegs, and others who make a living by following racing. Nearly everybody bets, and nearly everybody talked horse until the advent of the war, which gave the equine temporarily a rest. It is trying on the nerves when m a barber's shop, lathered and ready for the scrape, to have the barber flourish his Instrument of torture m the air and show how some ' FAMOUS JOCKEY WON A RACE. This, coupled with the fact that Aus r tralian barbers are among the worst m the world, has induced the writer to let the wind whistle through his whiskers until he returns to U.S.A. Then he will have an easy shave, followed by a slight repast, consisting of a real sugar-coated American* ham (Australian hog products smell vile while cooking), a tub of lowa creamery butter, and a keg of Tacoma beer; that • is, if we got back before prohibition goes into effect. Some weeks ago we made a trip to Sydney. In the compartment In the train which we occupied were two men and three women. They were evidently strangers to each other, for no conversation passed between them until one of the numerous race tracks was passed, when a chance remark broke the Ice, and they all PROCEEDED TO TALK HORSE. ' They clacked and they clanged In theto Australian dialect, parading the good points of their. equine favorites. One old lady had lost most of her teeth, which caused her when excited to gurgle Incoherently like a crocodile learning to crow. Some time ago we passed a shack In one of the small towns on the Northern line. "That fellow clears thirty "quid" (150 dollars) a week," snid my companion. "He must be making a, small fortune," we replied. "Oh, neow," said my companion, admiringly. "'X plya the rices. 'E Is a dead gyme sport, 'E is."

The Canadian racing authorities have awakened to the fact that there was something radically wrong when ho many of the better riders were forced 'to stay idle for want of opportunity to follow their vocation, whllo light weight and Inexperienced boys were given the preference, due to the fact, no doubt, of the flvu-pound apprentice allowance. Tho committee appointed to look into the matter and later report to the Canadian racing aaaoclailbns promulgated a ruling to the effect that the fi,-e pound allowance for apprentices ! only niipllod. to horses po?jicß«cil by the ( owner of tho contract on the boy. This j .-lems a very satisfactory solution of • a knotty problem.