THE TOTALISATOR

Otago Witness, Issue 2416, 28 June 1900, Page 39

THE TOTALISATOR

Someone having sent to Sir Richard Baker, chairman of the South Australian Jockey Club's committee, a copy of Victorian Hansard, dated. August, 1898, containing a report

of a speech made by Mr F. Madden m reference to the totalisator, in which Sir Richard's name frequently occurs, he (Sir Richard) writes a letter to the Sydney Morning Herald in which he says : "I am amazed at some of the statements made by Mr Madden. That the totalisator has been a magnificent and unqualified success in South Austria from nearly every ooint of view is incontestible, and has never been doubted in the colony. It has purified the turf from its worst elements, enabled the clubs to expend large sums of money in grand stands, training and racing tracks and conveniences for- members and public to gradually but surely increase the stakes given, to diminish the percentage on the slakes paid by the owners for entrance and acceptance fees, to foster and encourage in every way legitimate and honest sport, and to eradicate welshing and suppress an undue indulgence in betting and .vagering. It has also diminished crimes and offences. The mere perusal of the schedules hereto referring to the transactions of the three leading racing clubs proves most of these statements; the annual reports or the South Australian Commissioner of Police, as issued m the South Australian Blue Books in your Parliamentary library (in which special reference is made to the influence of the totalisator) substantiate others. Although lam proud to b.e, and to have been for the last 11 years, chairman of the committee of the South Aiistralian Jockey Club, I claim to look al this matter from a broader and higher point of view than th?t of a racing raau — from the point of view of the influence of the tolalisator on the minds, character, and action of the general public. The late Archbishop of York, Dr Maq'ee, has shown in a sermon preached by him, and afterwards in an article in the Contemporary Review, that there is nothing ethically wrong or morally harmful in mode] ate wagering or betting, it is only in the excess that it becomes injurious to the body politic. The, totalisator has undoubtedly taught people to be moderate, and not to risk money which they have not got, and educated the public, so to speak, to ' play whist for 6cl points. ' The practical impossibility of holding any race meeting in this colony without a license from the Government to use a totalisator hps entirely eradicated those objectionable suburban everyday meetings which are not unknown in Melbourne, and helped the premier club to control the number and improve the character of country meetings, thus placing racing in the position it ought to occupy, a mnnly and wholesome sport, a means of occupation and living to a few, certainly, but not an institution to enable an army of parasites io fatten on the public. I admit that the owner who desires to back his horse for large amounts at long odds, and forestall the public, cannot do so where the totalisator is legalised ; as a matter of fact, be cannot do so now anywhere in Australia, even where the totalisator is not legalised ; but the stake's will be so largely increased by its aid that the owner will practically obtain a large amount to nothing. The "V.R.C. would probably 'be able to add £20,000 to the Melbourne Cup. What more can a man want than £20,000 to hio entrance fee?"