A "TOTE" TEARAWAY.

NZ Truth, Issue 604, 13 January 1917, Page 9

A "TOTE" TEA RA WAY.

The tote will shorUy be an accomplished fact m Sydneyi What fun the New Zaland "takes" will have at the country meetings. There will bo tearing away m plenty, and riots galore for the New South Wales sportsmen are not the complacent mob Uao turf followers m the Dominion are, and they are quite likely- to turn down tho machine if the "grafters" attempt to get any "fine" work In. It will be no use telling thejfcrowd there that a certain commission— which waa really being thieved — was not^rung on, etc. This reminds "Spearmint" of some "graft" that was done on a Hawkes Bay course many^y ears ago. A firm was running the machine and one of tho horses In a two -year- old race was owned by the machine proprietors. Tho race was regarded as a moral, so a heap of money on the other horses was pulled away. Along came a prominent Porangahau Bportsman with a commission of £60 for his own horse. "No chanco" was the verdict of the machine people, so the half -century was pocketed. The favorite had bad luck at the barrier and. tho Porangahau moke got a "fly," winning easily. The dividend worked out at £11, but then It was discovered that tho fifty pounds commission had not been rung on, so the figures were made out afresh and the dividend reduced to £7. Tho crowd hooted a bit but stood it.