NOTES BY BEACON.

Otago Witness, Issue 1855, 10 June 1887, Page 22

NOTES BY BEACON.

The Christchurch sporting writers have certainly no lack of assurance. With the exception of " Senex," who writes fairly in connection with the Marion, business, everyone of them— including , our co-respondent " St. George " —has the audacity to tell ua the "facts" of the case, although not one of them was present at our races! "St. George's" remarks appeared lastwetsk, and they ahow so plainly from whom he gained his information as to the Marion and Kingask affairs that they can afford to be passed by without notice. But the following delightful and very honest note by " X " appears in the Canterbury Times :— " When we referred last week to the disqualification of the lad Jackson by the stewards of the Dunedin Jockey Club, we were writing with the very barest information, as to the merits of the case, and expressed ourselves as prepared to learn that the action of the stewards was justified by the evidence adduced. Buthaving made ourselves, as far as possible, familiar with the surrounding circumstances, we are compelled to conclude that the officials of the Southern club 'have perpetrated a very great injustice. That Jackson rode with poor judgment, and 1 contrary to orders in the Provincial Handicap there can he no doubt, but the lad tis admittedly not an accomplished horseman, and many more experienced jockeys have made greater blunders. Marion got away badly, made up her ground too hurriedly, and was then Mocked^ in until Mokoia had virtually won. Jackson was reproved by the trainer, tfnd, profiting by his previous experience, rode a much better race on the second day, and the mare, an animal that appears to require the most artistic handling, performed in something like her true - form.- . It was conclusively shown- to the stewards that Marion was 'backed by the stable in the first race, and not in the<Becond, and as no'one seems to have been benefited, to any extent by the alleged reversal of form, it is difficult to discover the grounds upon which the stewards based their conclusions. . . . We still wish to believe that the .Dunedin stewards acted with the best of. intentions, and we are forry to have to find fault with a judgment which might, with advantage, have' been applied to one or two other cases- we have witmessed atForbury; but we must raise our voicec c in protest against the infliction of what we believe to be an unmerited punishment upon a well meaning and industrious boy." It would be difficult to find a solitary word of truth in the foregoing, which' is, however, very amusing residing. , Fancy a man who was 250 miles away at the time describing a race better than those who witnessed it ! ( For " X's " benefit I may' say that his description of the race is uttrely untrue from beginning to end ; that it was not conclusively shown to the stewards that Marion was backed by the stable in the first race »nd not in the second — on the contrary'the stable had scarcely/ anything on her' on the first day, while on the second > at least £500 or £600 waa won over her by people who benefited pretty considerably by her reversal of form. The impudence of the assertion that"! X." has heard more of the merits of. the matter than was adduced in evidence before the stewards bears its own condemnation on its face, and is only paralleled by his cheek in " raising his voice in protest " about a" matter of which' he is utterly ignorant, and about .which he would never have troubled if Marion had not belonged to a Christchurch owner. His insinuation about other "crooked" business at the'Forbury is simply contemptible ; why does he hot' name' the instances ? If he dared to do so, I have no doubt that,- if true, they would be found to have been in connection with Christchurch horses. Then the manner in, which " X." thinks racing should be carried on is apparently because " one or two " people have affected a swindle any other has a right to do, the same. "X.'s" baby contemporary, the Referee, in the same ' strain' sayß : — " We may record our conviction that even presuming that . Marion's running on the first day was as suspicious as some people would infer — which we may say we do not for a moment believe — we have with onr own ■ eyes seen far worse instances of ' in-and-out ' running winked at on the same course. More than one instance comes to our recollection, and one during the present season at any rate."

Why does not the Referee give these instances ? If either of these Christchurch papers be bold enough to give as many instances of crooked business at the Forbury as it likea, I

will undertake to give for every one' three that have 'occurred at Christchurch.

Of Mr J. Stephensoh's two Lapidist youngsters, " Tarn o' Snantef" writes in the Tasmanian Mail as follows:— "By the western train to Launceston on Tuesday two yearlings by Lapidist arrived from the famous Calstock haras, and will be shipped by the Waihora. One is out of Pet, by St. Albans, out of The West, by Cotherstone, out of Prima Donna, by Boiardo, out of Farmer's Daughter, and running back to the imported mare Whiagig, the ancestress of co many of our celebrated horses. The other is out of The West, and the colts are therefore closely related. They have (says our Northern contemporary) been ' purchased by Mr John Stephenson. the well-known New, Zealand sportsmen, through Mr J. B. Curran, and they are undoubtedly a pair of fine colts, that should maintain the reputation of the premier stud of the colonies. The last purchases Mr Curran made for Mr Stephenson- where those two sons of St. Albans— Hyacinth and" Captain Webster — and excellent bargains they turned out.

Mr Sydney James has 'forwarded the following letter to Mr James Wilson, secretary to the Winton Jockey Club : — " Dear Sir, — I am in receipt of yours of the 27th May, and have to inform you that the following resolution of your club has been endorsed by the Dunedin Jockey Club: 'That George Dry, ' Alexander M'Kay, and the bay gelding Posthorn be disqualified for. malpractice at the Winton Summer meeting held' on 9th November 1886 during the pleasure of this club.' The latter part of your resulution— 'That Dry and M'Kay be disqualified from nominating, running, or training on the Winton course ' — is not required, as the above covers all."

Our worthy legislators are frequently found to be very badly informed on matters which they take part in discussing, but one was scarcely prepared to find the Hon. George M'Lean stating in the Legislative Council that at the Dunedin races the outside totalisator issued 10 tickets.

The above statement was made by Mr M'Lean in replying to a speech by the Hon. J.N. Wilson, of Hawke's Bay, some of whose remarks are worth quoting : I say that no cause has been shown why we should make an exception in favour of the totalisator. What reasons are there for legalising this system of betting at all ? The Hon. Mr M'Lean is the only person who has professed to give any reasons for it, and I gather from him that he looks upon a racecourse as a sort of Arcadian scene where people go and part 'with their money as a merely secondary matter, and show their interest in the races taking place. I say that that is entirely a mistake. These people go there for the purpose of gambling, not caring one straw for the races. . . . Now the Gaming and Lotteries Act was brought in, apparently, not in favour of betting, but to put down the system of sweeps, which was growing into enormous proportions. But I say that a worse evil than that has since been introduced, because, after all, I contend that for £1 that used to be invested in consultations there are £10 invested in the totalisator at the present time. As to the object of racing being to improve the breed of horses, that is a very small matter. I know one instance where, in a small village, there were races at which more than 20 horses ran, and several hundreds of pounds were invested in the totalisator ; but I do not believe that one of those horses was worth more than £20. It was nob the horses that the people wanted ; it was gambling — that was the object. How it can be 6aid that this gambling improves the breed of

horses I cannot conceive. ... So far as I can judge it appears to me the Government support the bill. This is due, I suppose, to there being a sporting element in the Government. I do not know that the Hon. Mr Reynolds belongs to that element. From my acquaintance with him I should have thought that his views on this matter would have gone with mine, but apparently he has gone in with the people he has fallen amongst. — This last remark brought out the Hon. P. A. Buckley, of Wellington who said : Ido not rise as the apologist of my honourable colleague Mr Reynolds, but I wish to offer a remark or two in reply to the observation of my honourable and learned friend Mr Wilson, whose virtuous indignation on this occasion one cannot but admire. I am not in favour of gambling any more than the Hon. Mr Wilson is, but I am amused to hear him refer to the bad company that he says the Hon. Mr Reynolds associates with. Why, sir, the Hon. Mr Reynolds, spends most of his time with my honourable and learned friend.

Numerous entries have been received for the Lancaster Park Trotting meeting, there being 21 for the Maiden, nine for the two Pony Races, 28 for the Jubilee Handicap, 18 for the Novel Handicap, 19 for the Park Handicap, and 14 for the Selling Race. The nominations include such cracks as Bloxwitch, Lunatic, Daisy, Jimmy Brown, Madcap, Jumbo, Betsy, Chanticleer, and others.

The entries for the Melbourne Cup appear among our Australian notes, and the paucity of the nominations gives another testimony towards what I have always urged, namely that senseless increasing of the value of a stake does nob call forth in returns single entry more than were obtainable before. Prior to the stakes for the leading New Zealand cup races being raised to £1000 each, entries were just as plentiful as they are now, and so it is with the Melbourne Cup. There are always only a certain number of horses that are considered by their owners good enough for the best company, and the result is that if £100,000 was given to a race no duffers would be entered, and the contest would be, as usual, restricted to the better class. To show that lam not romancing I submit the following figures in connection with the Melbourne Cup entries : Year. Added money. Entries. £ 1879 500 122 1880 500 109 1881 500 120 1882 500 128 1883 1000 150 1884 1000 134 1885 1000 165 1886 . 2000 143 1887 2600 129 Among the entries for the Melbourne Cup are several in whom New Zealanders will take great interest. The Hon. W. Robinson intends entering on another Australian campaign with Silver Prince, who won two races at the Forbury recently in such hollow fashion, Enfilade, daughter of Musket and Onyx, and the resuscitated cripples Disowned and Thunderbolt. Mr Drake takes over Spade Guinea, Pasha, and Teddy Yuille. Major George sends over his champion Nelsen, and Dan O'Brien his fine colt Sextant. The Hon. E. Mitcbelson will have Tranter, Mana, Escutcheon, and Whakawai to do battle for him. In addition to these Trenton, Niagara, Bangle, and Too Soon (the colt by Anteros — Steppe that was foaled on July 28, 1884) will also be about.

One hundred and r ten entries have been made for the Caulfield Cup, and 52 for the Champion Race.

Sixty-four entries have been received for the Sydney Metropolitan Stakes, including Spade

Guinea, Pasha, Teddy Yuillej Too Soon, Qaeenie, Escutcheon, Moana, Abner, Crossfire,Volcano, Rosebud, Industry, Trenton, and Ringmaster. - ' '

This note by " X." in the Canterbury Times is funny ;— " The world, after all, is not bo large as oar ancestors supposed. In the course of our review of the C.J.C. Metropolitan meeting we made some observations on the breeding of particular winners. J The paragraph was copied and acknowledged' by the London Sportsman. Thence it travelled to the New York Sportsman, and now we find it quoted' from the American paper in the latest number of . a Sydney exchange. In less than sit' months our comments have made the circuit of the globe."

Only fancy ! 'It took six months for one of 't X.'s" Jobser rations to go round- the 'world { while ordinary commonplace paragraphs do the circuit in less than half the time. It's value may be estimated when the copyists " delayed" it for so long a period. Yet " X." puts a' good face on it— -note the complacency with which' he impresses on us the fact that his' paragraph was not only "copied ".but actually "aeknow-, ledged !',' [It is a pity that " X." does not follow the same course with the " observations " that' he pilfers from the English and colonial papers.] After all, the" f onhiest part 'of the affair, is "X.'s" extraordinary deduction that the .world has shrunk since the days of our ancestors. I fancy it is not the earth that has diminished in size, but rathbr a descendant of our "ancestors" that has " swelled visibly." ' The results of the principal events at the Auckland Winter meeting, details of which appear in another column, seem to have been anticipated -by every sporting writer in the, colony, excepting ,that dreadful blowhard "Sir. Launcelot," who .was, as usual, dead out .of it. The , Maiden Steeplechase ended in a dead heat between a very hot favourite and ■ a rank outsider, the respective amount of estimation in which each of the pair was held being demonstrated by the totalisator dividends — Omata paid £1 18s, Tawhaio £12. There were but three starters for the Hurdle Race, and Mr Kean's Victory gained, as was anticipated, a very easy victory.. The Novel Race saw, what is termed a " hot favourite " in Pipi upßet, but seeing that the winner paid only £2 14s to his backers, he must have been nearly as much fancied as Pipi., The Winter Handicap (on the flat) attracted a capital field of a dozen, and a fluctuating race resulted in a clever win for the Sydney-bred mare Friendship. Then came the big event, the Great Northern Steeplechase, for which, there were eight competitors, but Silvio was a great favourite. During the race the field was reduced by Victory's running off, Orangeman's baulking, and Bell's falling. They, (however, left five in' it, but the real issue seems to have been all along between Magnesia and Silvio, of whom the latter had the best at the,- right moment. Jimmy Kean thus secured the double event of the gathering, and his many Otago friends were right glad to hear it. Tawhaio confirmed his form in the Maiden by securing the Selling Steeplechase with great ease, and our old friend Turquoise showed that he is not yet done by winning the Ladies' Bracelet race in grand style.

At Turakina races on the 30th ult. Salisbury won the Turakina Handicap and Jubilee Handicap easily for Messrs Stock and Conroy. The Victorian Racing Club notify in our columns that they purpose shortly inviting tenders for catering at the Flemingtqn racecourse for a term of three .'years. • Here is a chance for a New Zealand "Spiers, and Pond. to break forth. Perhaps Mr Waters, of Dunedin and Oamaru, may be tempted to step into the breach — the club could not have a better man. ' ' , The following from the Press is horsey and racy, if not racing : — " I must tell you rather a funny thing that happened a little while ago. A well-known horsey gentleman sold a young hjorse to a certain undertaker. Undertaker and horsey gent meet in the street. ' How is the young horse getting on?' said the captain. ' Well enough,' said the man of gloomy trade ; 'I put him in the mourning coach first, but folks don't like to be shook up in their grief: so Lput him in the 'earse instead, and I 'aven't 'card no complaints as yet.' "

. At last week's annual meeting of the Christchurch Tattersali's Club the report showed that the club was in a highly satisfactory condition, and that the additional conveniences and accommodation now offered had met with the general approval of members. The committee for the ensuing year having been elected, it was unanimously resolved to present Mr E. W. Roper, the bon. treasurer, with a testimonial in appreciation of the valuable services rendered by him to tie club from the day of its existence to the present time, and a sub-committee was appointed to carry out this object. A suggestion from a prominent member that a race meeting should bis held in connection with the club, met with the hearty approval of those present, and it was resolved that a special' general meeting of the club should be held on Monday,' June 13, to further' consider the proposal. The wonder is (writes " Senex ") that a Tattersall's race meeting has not before been mooted by the members of the club, seeing the extent to which the Sydney and Melbourne Tattersall's have benefited by the meetings instituted by those clubs. The profits of the Sydney institution from that source are said to amount to something like £10,000 during the last seven years, and with the aid of the totalisator there is no reason why our Christchurch Tattersall's should not emulate their performance. Contrary to the fashion in previous years, the handicap for the New Zealand Cup will not be, issued till July 1. So says a Christchurch writer, and his tone seems to imply that he would like to know the reason why the Canterbury Jockey Club have deviated from the advertised conditions of the race : "The handicap to appear on Wednesday, June 1." Down here people are so ill-natured as to say that the alteration is .to allow of the Melbourne Cup weights to appear first, which would suit certain people very well indeed.

At a special meeting of the Ashburton Hunt Club, which was held on Monday evening last, it was decided to hold the usual steeplechase meeting. The question of fixing the date and place of meeting was left to the committee. ' It was resolved that the steeplechases be open to duly-qualified hunters, the property of members of the Ashburton County Hunt Club, the Hunt Club Cup and Selling Races excepted.

A meeting of members of the Walrarapa Jockey Club was held last week (says the New Zealand Mail's sporting contributor) at which it was stated that the liabilities outstanding were over £500. Against this amount there were the improvements which had been made to the Moroa racecourse, Jcc. Several of the members have undertuken to guarantee the amount of the club's liabilities, so that the outstanding stakes may be paid, and it is hoped that the club's operations may be more successful in the, future; but I do not think they will find that the change of venue from Tauherenibau to Moroa was a wise move or a popular one, and no comparison -can be made between the two

courses,' Tauherenikau; being far and aWay;the best track in, 1 the district] I hear that.'it is^probable that Mr R? R. ArmatrongVwlio has 'for 'so, many years been'theaecretary to the'club^is likely* to resign^ his 'position'; if this is the. case the vacancy will be a difficult to fill'. a Mr Armstrong has been one of the greatest, supporters of the turf in the province, and' there are few. persons who can teach him anything in the way 1 of successfully carrying but;a race meeting. ' , At the sale, of the late Mr R. Wilkin's 1 trotting stock at Christchuroh the, following prices were realised :—' ! "'"■ • " ' ' STAIiIONS.' ' t " •' ' - ' . Gs.' Berlin—Mr'G Ehodeß, Timaru ... ' .A '275' Blackwood Abdallah— Mr Max' Friedlander, ' , Ashburton „ .. • ■ ... • 160 i. . r MABES. Blue Grass Belle— Mr Brown, Christchurch .... 60 Fanny Bell-- Mr Brown, 1 'Christchurch ... '50 '. Jeanie Treacy— Mr Max Priedlander ... '"31 Messenger Maid— Mr T.Chapman, Bangiora ' ..'.' ' 40 ' Queen Emma— Mr H F Recce r 32Woodbura Maid— Mr T Chapman "... , • ... ■ 40, 1 " * COITS., Brown colt, by Berlin— Fanny Bell— Mr R ! Mason ... ' ' /;. '> ■ ','„ '' ... 35 Bay colfc, by Berlin— Jeanie Treacy— Mr J : Ortigg „ „, ... 35 Bay colt, by Berlin-Queen Emma-Mr W , • Jardine ' ... ... t ' ... ..'. 35 Bay colfc', by Berlin— Woodburn Maid— Dr Prins 36 ! Bookmakers who are in the : habit of ''con- ' gregatirig on the pavement near' the 1 Grand Hotel had better take 1 a note of the following case, 'which' was heard at the . T Christchurch " Magistrate's Court on Thursday:— Obstructing the Footpath.— J. F. Le Sueur, George Habkins, W. Hackshaw, and G. H: Wriggleswortbl were, charged with obstructing the footpath in High street on the' evening of May' 23.— Hankins did not appear: — Mr RusVell, appeared, for Le, Sueur.— Sergeant Briggs said he saw the four defendants standing on the 1 footpath in front of ' the Empire Hotel on Monday, May 23 ; , lie Sue&r> and Hackshaw went away. for a . few,i&fiutes,buti with this exception the men were' therp of ah hour. Saw a constable sp,eak' to.the" men.! The footpath and J street were J 'considerably' obstructed. 1 ' It was the evening" 'before ilthe Heathcote ' races, and there were a great many ■ people about.— To Mr Russell : Noticed Le Sueur particularly twice. It was about half-past 8 when he went away. He was gone about 10 minutes. Saw, him again at night. — To Wrigglesworth: Took the names of eight people. Witness was in plain clothes at the time. — Constable Daly said the men were standingabout the road in knots. Was certain' Le Sueur was there. — Constable M'Carthy swore that he spoke to Le Sueur, who said, "Beg pardon." He jumped off the footpath, and then came back . again. It was about 8 o'clock when he spoke to him. Witness was, positive it was Le Sueur ; he had a lightish coat on. — Mr Russell said he would ask for an adjournment, to bring' 'half-a-dozen witnesses to prove that Le Sueur, was not in Christchurch oh the' evening named.— Case adjourned till Saturday, and a .warrant ordered . to be issued for the arrest of the ' accused, who did ' not appear. — John' Higgins,- David Mitchell, W. H. Brumm, and William Goodyer were summoned for a similar charge. . Brumm admitted the charge... Sergeant Briggs and Constable Daly said they 1 saw the men loitering about the place for about 20 minutes. Mitchell said he wasn't, out of his house after 6 o'clock. Constables Daly and M'Carthy swore that they saw Mitchell there.— Beechy, called to prove that Higgins could not have been in front of the Empire" Hotel at the time named, finally could but admit that he might have been there. "Mitchell swore that he was not outside his place, after 6 o'clock on May 23. The Bench said -that men loitering about in this way threatened to become a serious nuisance', and a lesson must be given to the public through them. A fine o£ 5s each would be imposed. ' " Phaeton " writes as follows in the Auckland 1 Herald: — The Auckland correspondent' of the Referee, in writing to that journal, says'.— " I" may mention that more than one horseowher in the South. declined to enter yearlings for the two and three-year-old events here, which closed early this month, stating that they were • full up ' of Auckland and'its incompetent handicapping,, and suspicious sporting writers." Of course the above had to be dished up to suit Canterbury, but Aucklanders will breathe freely when I tell them that the refusal to nominate' came only from Mr P. Martin (the owner of Silence). lam well aware that the Napier sport was very sore over some remarks I felt compelled to' make with reference to the intention 1 of certain horseowners to run-in together in the recent Easter Handicap, as he considered he was one of the "happy trio" I, had a shot at. I don't suppose, even had Mr Martin nominated, his entries would have < been characterised > by" fives and tens, for hitherto one horse bas been' about his , strength. The A.R.C. need not,' therefore, put up the shutters because he has declined to nominate.

; By ringing the changes with the jockeys on Friendship and Tamora inthe Birthday Cup at Takapuna, writes "Ehaeton," the public were considerably mystified. When the horses took their preliminary, Taylor was' seen on Tamora, while' Williams was upon Friendship, the colours, of course, being reversed to those figuring on the card. At the back of the course, however, just prior to the start, Taylor and Williams were seen to dismount and swop horses. As Friendship' swept into the straight, the backers of Tamora thought they were "in it," and were considerably chagrined when they found they had been "put away." Such tricks as these should not be allowed, and it is a matter for regret that George Wright should have resorted to such an act in order to blind the public. Takapuna races are, as a rule, ! free from this kind of thing,[andit is to be hoped that the next time such acts as the above are indulged in the stewards will promptly bring the offenders to book, for their bounden duty is to stand by the public.

The winning payments in connection with the A.R.O. Winter meeting were made to-night, the sum of £525 5s being paid away. The principal amounts were:— D. Maloney (Great Northern Steeplechase), £301 3s ; J. Kean, £142 10s ; J. Eavanagh, £49 12s 6d.

At a meeting of the stewards of the Wellington Racing Club held on Tuesday, the programme of the Steeplechase meeting to be held 'on the 9th July underwent considerable revision. It was decided to strike out the local Hurdle Handicap and the Selling Hack Hurdles from the programme and substitute two flat races— viz. : a Flying Handicap, of 40sovs, three-quarters of a mile, and a Welter Handicap, of 60sovs, one mile and a-quarfcer. ' The date of all nominations was extended to June 23.

The members of the old Dunedin Hunt Club intend holding a small race meeting on Jubilee Day, and have obtained the consent of the Jockey Club to the use of the Forbury course.

In the House of Representatives, the other day Mr Jones asked the Colonial Treasurer if he will take steps to impose a tax on the totalisator for the benefit of charitable institutions? Sir J. Vogel might point out to the honourable gentleman that this question was at the present time under the consideration of another

branch of'the £eg^lature" wiict iad a.biil deaiirig t with ' the "subject before it; t but f 'generaUy, he- might j say \that n tihe had not, bared to, take any A steps in^egard to" obtaining revenue^ from the, tbtaUsator which wdulii hi any Way hamper,^he^jConsider^ibn'ef the .point whether thelegalisatioh.of the totalisa^or. ) was to .ButJhe.Government thought', if the House th^t the' use'bf ,the ,totali r satJo'r should be >, continued, a considerable share ofih'e^rofits^ arising from the'working of ihe instrument sfiquldbe paid over to th©,charita.ble instxtutoqnspf thej.districfc in which,' the' totalisa~tor u was' at' yrotk., ',; # " , r " , , ( ,J ' , Almost half;, the- Jhorses. entered for the Hawke's Bay Steeplechase have dropped! put, and of .thdse', remaining .Silvio* Huntsman, and, Victor are probably the best.- ■*"']',, ! Lovely weather (writes*' our contributor, "Nimrod") favoured the meet of the Qfcago Hounds] on; Saturday Jpn Mr MacgregoV's farW at" St. Clair'Rtae, and in consequence a large attendance gladdened .the eyes of' ihe master. wtien he rode up on the trusty- Turk. Amongst the numerous s assemblage present were^— Messrs W. H. Taggarfe on -Robur.Hood and Ji Cotton on Fishhook; Mr Black, Daydawn gelding; Mr Gregg, Harkaway '/.Mr Jones, Bungaree ; Mr J. Heffernan, Kate ;* Mr J.TaggarV. Little Dan; Mr ''Wilson, "Drummer; 'Mr^H; jGcjurley, "The Tempest; Master's. Gdurl'eyj 1 Sweep; Mr P. Laing, 'Glenara V'Mr L.jßutledge, ♦Rabbit;' 1 Mr G.. Smith, Dunhtce; Mr Hart, Matipo; a lad on Mayboy; Mr, Poqle^rpde Wizard, and the whip IPbtensj, Miss Driimm,: 'Greyfriar ; arid Mrs Myers) Cocky. ' ~ There was also a four-in-hand and a' number of 'private' vehicles: '.The hounds were laid on to the drag in a grass paddock near ' The Cliffs, the 1 first impediment being a stiff wjre, fence surmounted by a toprail of unyielding proportions, Matters at this pearly stage , became decidedly mixed; although valiant at-1 tempts* were made to follow J Poole, the master,' and a few of the 'best mounted. Dunluce was in' suph a hurry, that he forgot i to , rise,' and the' timber being stubborn he came down a cropper. Although" it was at, first feared he had injured himself severely/ fortunately.both the 1 horse and Mr G. Smith escaped injury, and 1 were' quickly' in- pursuit. The hounds: ran very fast along these jjras'sy slopes, keeping up a terrible chorus, and giving the field all they knew to keep up with even the loiterers of the pack. Near the farmhouse small enclosures came in such quick succession .that half-a-dozen fences were met in a space that would comprise one decent-sized paddock.. Before these were left behind at least two saddles- were without occupants ; the manner and exact mode of the latter's ejectment having escaped my observant eye. Several morepaddooks were*. traversed,>then a double across a road. About -this ' point • one well-known" ' horse, Glenara, made a mistake, and for a few instants the position of his rider (Mr P. Laing) was somewhat perilous, his boot being fast in the stirrup.< He .fortunately managed to release Himself without injury. .Two or three gorse' fences were then encountered; one .being • a rather thick blind' fence with a ditch on the takeoff side, and although the drag was run into in the next paddock, a stubble one, and the huntsman's horn sounded forth enlivening and spirited strains, it failed to inspire several steeds ' with the necessary courage to negotiate this last obstacle in a creditable style. Doubtless the long run had told 1 somewhat severely on those not in the very best of form. A short spell having been allowed, .and the incidents *of the last run ' chatted over, the drag was laid, again on nearly the same line. Most of the followers in the former run took part in -this, and two or three casualties took place oh -the return journey. Glenara again came v to grief, and two more whose names I did not know. Only about six got right through and over the last fence and .were near the hounds at the finish, and, one of these was Master S. Gourley, on the. Galloway Sweep, who went as straight as a die. ,• Thus ended two very enjoyable runs, as the weather was igood, the ground dry, and the fences, although numerous, not too severe.