AUSTRALIAN.

Otago Witness, Issue 1682, 16 February 1884, Page 20

AUSTRALIAN.

The Hawksbury Racing Club has a credit balance of £1000. The result of the betting cases which have recently occupied the attention of a Sydney bench of magistrates has naturally caused a fluter of excitement in Victorian sporting circles. Perhaps it would be ad well to briefly narrate the circumstances which have led to the appeal to a New South Wales police court. _ In the first instance, a bookmaker named Davis was ejected from the St. Leger reserve at Randwick for betting without a licence. Not content with expelling_ Davis, the A J.C. in the name of their chairman, Mr J. C. White, issued a summons agaiiißt him for getting without the necessary certificate. Davis, on the other hand, laid an information against Mr White for knowingly permitting betting at Randwick. Davis had the best of the battle in both instances, and Mr White, as chairman of the Club, was mulcted in a fine of £20 for the offence for which he was charged. Notice of appeal was given in each case. Stimulated by the turn things have taken in Sydney, the Melbourne bookmakers talk of testing their position at Flemington, and they entertain hopes of abolishing the licensing fee now in vogue. Possibly they may succeed in this, but the right of prohibiting batting altogether afc Flemington will still remain with the V.R.C., whose vested powers are somewhat prerogative in this respect. This part of the subject, however, can be better dealt with when it becomes known in what direction our agitating metallieians intend to move. Provided the Sydney Police Court decision is upheld in the higher com to, betting on the racecourses of the sister Colony will be revolutionised, and m all likelihood, prohibited entirely by the firm hand of the law. The outlook has a very uncertain bearing, aud the issue of events will be watched with something more than idle curiosity by the whole of the sporting population of the Australian Colonies. It is understood (says "Nemo," in the Sydney Mail) that Mr Wentworth intends to take the chestnut colt by Grand Flaneur from Amethyst (imported) to England. He is one of the handsomest colts that ever stepped into a ring, and had he not had the misfortune to be foaled on the 15th of July (which would make him a yearling on the first of last August) there can hardly be a doubt that he weuld have brought 1000 guineas instead of Latest betting quotations in Melbourne are as under : — MEWMARKS.T HANDICAP. 100 to7agtttiegeih..o 100 —6 — Count ytmui 100 — 5 Ooolaluti 100 — 4 Loid Wilton 100 — 3 Ulopirap. • AUSTRALIAN CUP. 100 to 5 agst Martini-Henry. CHAMPIOn faTAKcS. v to 2 agufc Martini- Henry 8 — 1 Commotion At a recent meeting of the committee of the Tasmanian Racing Club, a Jetter waß received from M,r Bailey, requesting permi'e'sfott to

work a totalisator on the El wick course at the forthcoming meet. It having b«en decided that the committee should work a totalisator in the interests of tho club, the application was not entertained

In the Anniversary Handicap at Randwick Horo'n Luck's victory was a complete surprise to his party as well as to the public, his being started merely to cut out the running for bis stable companion Soldier Boy. , Mr Branch informs " Augur " that there is no truth in the rumour that Mr James Wilson has sold hia St. Albans estate. Negotiations were opened, buj; Mr Wilson's price was a big one, £40,000, as it should be for so perfect an_ establishment, and it is believed the South Australian who was in treaty would not trade at the figure. By perseverance and the expenditure of many thousands of pounds, Mr Wilson has made St. 1 Albana about the most perfect racing and breeding establishment in the Australasian Colonies. Luck has been dead against him of lato, but " there's a good time coming," and, possibly, we shall see him in something like hia old form ere the present season closes. King of the Ring, who flashes upon us like a meteor of the most brilliant kind, with First King, Petrea, Caspian, Avernus, and Soutli j Hamilton, has failed to maintain his character, but there are two or three of hia descendants who will ba heard of this fall. During the past few years Progress. Little Jack, Dukedom, and othera bred away from St. Albans have been the main props of the establishment, and it seems as if the proprietor of St. Albans will have to depend upon animals bred by others rather than those raised in his own luxurious paddocks. Still, he does not despair of King of the Ring, and not long ago ret used an i,flfcr of 1000 guineas from Mr Town for the halfbrother to Maribyrnong. A Tasmanian paper leaTns that a party of bookmakers who intend to be present at the forthcoming races of the T.R.C. and T.T.C., to be held at Hobart and Launceston .this month,, have decided to charter a steamer in Melbourne, specially for themselves. They will live on board the steamer during the Hobart racing week, after which they will come on to Launceston to be present at the T.T.C. Their object, it is understood, in chartering a steamer is not only to secure accommodation during the racing carnival, but to avoid what they consider heavy hotel expenses.