TELEGRAPH OFFICES ON RACECOURSES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2516, 4 June 1902, Page 46

TELEGRAPH OFFICES ON RACECOURSES.

The action of the North Otago Jockey Club in shutting the telegraph office on thoir j

course and thus preventing direct communication with the ground was adversely criticised by many who are in the habit -of frequently attending race meetings. The club may have thought that such an action would ; have a. beneficial effect on the totalisator receipts, and, judging by the increased receipts over the amount handled at the club's I Winter meeting held last season, it may appear uhat the result justified the, action. But i there cannot be obtained a hard-and-fasfc ! rale to account far totalisator receipts, and { the experience of many clubs is that direct; | telegraph communication with a racecourse is a desirable auxiliary in swelling th<* amount put through the totalisator. The receipts of the latter are influenced by manydifferent things, especially good fields, not necessarily numerically strong, but good betting races, in which each horse engaged appears to have a fairly good chance of success on paper. This is generally found to follow , good or lucky handicapping, which praci tically amounts to the same thing. Large attendances do not always mean large totals on the machine; but the state of the money market as it exists on the racecourse may be taken as the principal factor in the matter, and what may be termed "outside"' interest in a meeting is another important consideration — that is to say, the interest taken by punters residing m other towns who are unable or not anxious to attend the meeting, and who are desirous of backing their fancy per medium of the totalisator. Then again, although starting-price men receive cojnnwsions from the ground, it is unquestionably a fact that these men frequently send large sums of money back to the course for hedging purposes. Punters who are dilatory in "'making up tlie-ir minds" wl-a.t to back for a race are also a serious consideration when- casting up what infiuonceo rotalisa-tor receipts. The Oamara Ciub have been one of the greatest sufferers in this respect that 1 have noticed duringthe pr23ont season. On their present seaion's lacing what the club have lost would without exaggeration probably amount to the thick end of a thousand pounds. A fair bum to lose when it is considered that it is on the ground, and its owners are prepare<t to invest it on the machine. Some clubs make it a practice to delay the start of a. race in order to get the last available pound 1 out of die punters' pockets. I think ifc would be a good idea if a five-minute bell were rung before the raw. and thus -siam investors of the nearness of starting time. The Oamaru Club should enlarge their totalisator house by next season, and I am sure they would not loi-e by the transaction. To gauge the success of a meeting by the totalisator receipts is not" sportsmanlike, although it is only natural that a club should bo anxious that their meetings should a success from a financial as well as from a sporting point of view. In the matter of telegraph, communication with a racecourse the patrons of a club should be studied, and it is easily understood that receivers of wires do not care about paying csj-rjage on their messages when an operating office is on the ground. It is not conducive to one's peace of mind to find a wire at one's hotol on return from a racecourse when the prompt receipt of the said wire would have? made a substantial increase to "cash im hand.*' That the telegraph authorities strongly object to clubs cutting off communication is evidenced by their action when the Wellington Club acted in the same manner as the Oamaru Club. "When the ActingPremier was informed that the North Otagc* Jockey Club had decided to shut the telegraph office on their course he took prompt action in the mattei% and it is reported that he wired the club to the effect that unless the office was re-opened he would erect % tent outside the course, in which the operators could do their work in connection with, the meeting. The difficulty between the club and the telegraph authorities was bridged over for the time being, but next season it is more than likely that the club will fall in with the old order of things and! re-open the office.