SPORTING NOTES FROM AUSTRALIA.

Otago Witness, Issue 2735, 15 August 1906, Page 50

SPORTING NOTES FROM AUSTRALIA.

Bt Host. Ptoxb.

MELEOUBJKTE, August 9. TUBF TOPICS.

! On Weduetday last judgment was delivered by the State Full Court <M? Justice Bodges, llr Justice -Hood, and Mr Justice Chomiey), in the case relating to the increasing of bookmakers' fees at iUenrington racecourse. Originally the fees -were £25 per annum for -the "pmddock" and £10 for the "hill"; but m September last the V.E.C. {Jommittee increased them to £75 for the saddling paddock and £25 for the hill. This caused the wellknown bookmaker "Johnny" Colman to bring an action agaic3t Septimus Miller (as chairman of the committee of tie Victorian Seeing -Club), on the ground- that the bylaw passed by the committee in May,- 1806 (and! coming in force through not being disallowed by the Gorernor-in-'Council after its publication ia 'the Government Gasvtte), was invalid, as being unreasonable and uncertain, .and claiming a declaratory judgment to that effect. On hearing the action {in April last), Acting-Chief Justice -a'Beckett held that utid« the VJR.O.'b general law« the bylaw w» not ultra mxc; er unreasonable, and that the committee had power to permit the business of bookmaking to be carried on only subject to conditions. Judgment was therefore given for the defendant club. Then the plaintiff (Colman) appealed to the Fuil Court, and the appeal was argued in June; Mr Isaacs, K.C., and Mr Sfcnfcs (i*« atructed by Messrs Cohen and Herman) appearing ior the plaintiff, and Mr Purves, ■XC Mr Duffy, TLC, mad Mr Coldham. (instructed by Messrs Nunn, Smith, and Jefier«on) for the defendant; and judgment berna; reserved. In delivering judgment on Wednesday, Mr Justice Hodges said that the "Victoria Bacing 4Bub Act, 1871," dechaed tha* the land vested m the chairman ahotud b» held only for the purposes of a pubhc racecourse, subject to the act, and to any bylaw* made thereunder, and held for such purposes only. The act empowered &c committee to make auch bylaws a» *hey thought fit fox xagulating the admission and expulsion of .msao* hers, and ior the due management of that affairs of the club, and as to the xates *o b# paid *nd the general management of ihe course. The bylaw in question -was mad« under that powar, and the. plaintiff objected that it was invalid in that it *ai unreasonable and uncertain. It provided -that no pecson should carry on Va9 occupation of * bookmaker unless approved by fhe committee. That gave power to th» committee to allow one person to ply that vocation and to raiiue another person, without any reason whatsoever; and, so far from its being a permission to all the public to carry on on th» same terms, it becams * permission to toe individual of whom the committee may approve, and the committee may for any reason di*appro>«—even the proverbial reason given to Dt fell. It was a public racecourse, and the permission might be given to any person who Bright pressure the favour of ihe committee. That was vnreasonable. The bylaw also provided that the individual was to pay in atfvano* such registration fee as Ihe" commrttw. irorn time to time *hould direct. That w« opes to objection,) because it was never certain until the demand was made. It ; was unreasonable because it aMowed differentaaJ charges to be made as between one person sad another— a small ice to. one person and *• prohibitive fee to another. Another provision waa even worse— viz., <hat the bookmaker was to observe and comply with such *«««*"»» « from time to tiroo were given on behalf oi the committee, so that when he went on tha ground he might not know what directions h« might have to comply with, m from whom those directions might come, and if he doubtoa the authority of any auch person he might refuse to obey only at bis peril. That wm in the last degree unreasonable and uncertain If any member of the public were to be kept off th* ground the defendant would have to show his right to keep him off; and when it was intimated to him that he could not come on the ground, except by complying with certain bylaw., that threw upon the defendant th» burden of proving that the committeewas justified in making that bylaw and 3raepine the man out. His Honor, Mr ou»uc« Hodges, further added that while the bflvm as framed was -unreasonable *nd -uncertain, an* could be used so as to he oppresMye *n« unjust, there was no evidence that it had been so used; but lhat fact would not justify the court in declining to consider the validity, of th* bylaw if it could be ao used. Mr Justice Hood said that betting per s* ■was not unlawful, and need not hs- so earned on as "to hs a nuisance. Every »wfully on a racecourse was entitled to do all lawful acts usually done there. Wagenas being a common occurrence in auch piacs*, a> person who had paid for admission m*m entitled to -wager, provided jhe violated ao ititote Uw nor interfered unduly with other*, whether publicly as a business ox privately amongst friends. Public betting might J» so conducted as io be a nuisance, and it. should T»e regulated, and J>ylaws ior much a purpose ahould be supported if possible. J»«*( this bylaw was neither reasonable nor oextaißVi If the object were to limit the number ©a bookmakers, this bylaw placed no limit. lg excluded all who fail to pay a varying a»a uncertain fee fixed arbitrarily. P v *. bT '*a would prevent a man from doing what hs MM a right to do unless he complied with conaV tions which were unknown ; paid a fee "wine was uncertain, air.l obtained *n approval ci

Aimeclf on grounds ai to which lie was told . nothing. . * > Mr- justice Chomley said that the committee Jamd put its resolutions in the form of a bylaw, ana it must be within the statutory powers of the club, and must comply with the conditions of certainty and reasonableness which the law imposed. This bylaw was tu»pnimn, and in its application might be very treasonable. For these reasons the bylaw was invalid, and the plaintiff was entitled to •noosed. The appeal was therefore allowed mrrth costs, and judgment entered for the plaintiff. Mr W. H. Oroker, on behalf of ihe V.R.C., expressed his opinion that the V.R.C would hold a special meeting, and «Ut«d that 'there will probably be an appeal either to the High Court or (by leave) to the Privy Council, "whichever w preferred" " The charge for bookmakers' fees was high," remraked Mr Croker, " though not too high, considering ihe lucrative nature of their cillinc. aid the loss of revenue to the V.R.C. And other clubs must lead to a reduction in ptakes. In the interests of horse-breeding, •vnd the n\aintenanoe of a high standard of ' lacing, this would be very regrettable. It toust- be noticed, too, that the decision does jnot -touch private or proprietary clubs. If ihe, law is held to be as the Full Court states, Ihe position would be simply intolerable. It wcu'<l mean unlimited betting. Welshers iCould come in any number, and carry on their practices with impunity. That state of affairs would no loubf expedite anti-betting and anti- . gambling legislation, although I think it must be confessed . that betting. cannot altogether be prohibited. It is, of 'course, competent for Parliament to give the- V.R.C power to register and license bookmakers ; but another solution of the difficulty lies in the legalisation of the totalisAtor." Having won their case the bookmakers are flow beginning to realise that they have bitten Jiff a bit more than they can comfortably swallow, let alone digest. have narrated the tele to ym before how it was at the instigation of the leading bookmakers themselves a registration fee ' came into vogue ; Messrs Joseph Thompson, Bill iftanch. and some bthexs of the more prominent members of the ring in the olden time fancying that they would be able to squeeze the smaller fry out »nd obtain a monopoly cf the wagering. They were horribly disgusted, after the registration fee was imposed, to find that the committee of the V.R.C. were prepared to license any |xm* fide fielder fulfilling the necessary conditions, "and waxes fond in their wail «nent feeing "fried in their own fat." History is tepeating itself in the latest instance, and (now the raetallicians are beginning ,$o recogthey have .summoned up a Frankenstein that may eventually swallow them up. A number of member? of the ring maintain that fx the present decision is not upset, and no amended bylaw of the V.R.C. is passed, it will be hard on those fielders who have been registered for years, as they will have to compete against all sorts of men who may decide .to ' make books at Flemington. One leafing member uttered his thoughts theresvnent as follows: — "It will be e> terrible thing for ffao ring if there -is to h» 'go^is-you-please* "betting at Flemington. It- may not particularly effect the men 'on the rails' (meaning thereby the big bookies inside), but it will jgo hard with the. bookmakers who bet for _ cash.'- Then, again, -there were others who were, pronounced in v the opinion that owing 4b the decision of the Full Court, an attempt «rou)d be made at the next race meeting at Flemington '(on August 18) by unregistered lookmalwrs to ply their calling on the* course. . The "Flemington Tragedy" of the past few weeks is now described in the j newspapers as the ''Flemington Fatality," the finding of the (district coroner (Dr R. H. Cole) at the conclusion of the evidence on Wednesday being us follows: — "That Donald John M'Leod came to his death on the 14th July, 1906, at Flemington racecourse from suffocation, due to j pressure upon or laceration of the spinal cord, j Attributed to dislocation of the neck close .to ) the head following a fall upon the ground. There is not sufficient evidence to determine fiow ■ the dislocation! was caused, or whether the fall was due to the act of any other per- ■ ' son." The men in custody on a charge of wilful murder were immediately set at liberty and no further arrests will be made. The most harrowing part of the horrible occurrence is the fact «f M'Laod's mother being driven incurably insane, her constant wail being, "Don. Doat" New .Zealand-bred horses are having ft fair innings' just at present in Australia. On Saturday, at Canterbury Park (N.S.W.), Mr J. ti. Call's Starshcot (Hotchkiss — Crescent), ridden by L. Hewitt, started at 2 to 1 against IS others for, the Canterbury Handicap (a mile and a-guarter, in 3.11|), and won easily by a lemgth from Old Gold 7.0 and Cairngorm 8.5. Starshoot carried 6.3, or BH> more than he will have to put up in the Caulneld Cup, despite his Blb penalty for Saturday's iwin... He is well engaged at the A.J.C. meeting at Raniwkk next month, having incurred Sib penalties in the Epsom - and Metropolitan. ' \H. W. Toir'e nve-year-old Guncotton - thrown Spec mare Windy achieved her secoad victory at Moonee- Valley, carrying 8.4 to victory "from the ancient Barr 7.10, Sweet Bird y.O, and" nine othew in the Valley Handicap, |he eight furlongs and a-half of which were traversed in Iniin Slscc. Mr Torr, who gave BSOgs for Wmdy to go to India', likewise an- , Uexeft the Welter Tlaadicap with Sweet Marie (Gaulus— Mand), whom he recently purchased for lOOgs. .At Moonee Valley on Saturiay, Thurlow I fßebb!* Childe — Alsorts), who carried off the mile and a-half Handicap Trot (Smin 34Jsec) from Dixie Alto (Baec behind), Coney Island ■ Faseo behind), and five more, left his mark , |18sec behind scratch) before his time, but j *ras brought back and started exactly according to his handicap. The matter was referred to tK« stewards, who, after hearing the evidence of the -stewards and others, decided that Thurlow should receive the stake. At' the time of writing Solution and Jim Dorset divide favouriteship for the A.J.C IBpsom Handicap at 10 to 1. On Monday £2000 to £60 was accepted about Famous for that •vent. Some little time back it came to my knowledge that the Grafton— Melodious colt Tom Hoore was progressing so favourably that his party were entertaining hopes of his springing a eurpriv vi th-« next V.R.C. Derby, if not an the Melbourne Cup. However, I notice in this morning's Argus the following paragraph •nent this same Tom Moore: — "The three-y«ar-oli colt Tom Moore is showing signs of temeneesfk haviffg met with a slight injury." Still, there is plenty of time for the Grafton— Melodious colt to recover from a "slight lamevess" 'twixt now and October — is there not? Besides which, the big weekly of the Argus once' gave the straight tip for the Derby when it descanted on the prohibitive lameness of * colt named Carnage. „..,„. ... From Turf Statistics, published this week, it transpires that Mr P. A. Connolly (W.A.). as the owner of Blue Spec, the Melbovine Cup Winner, is at the head of the list of winning mm, wtth £6609 against his aame. His ■uceeM last season was not connned to Blue Spec's Melbourne Cup victory, as he owned St other winners, and in si! won 12 races, fix J. J. Uacken (owner of Tartan) and Mr § M'Masters (owner of Marvel Loch), both W Nelr South Wales, come next ©nthe list jHth #6997 and £1517 ewpectiveli. Tke most

successful Victorian owner was Mr S. Green, who, with Gladsome principally, won £8638. Another member of the ring, Mr E. Kelly (who, however, trains his own horses, and has a very large team), won no fewer than 25 races, tha total value being £3073. Lochiel, who has been dead some time, heads the list of winning sires, horses by him having won 98 races, of the total value of £19,064. His principal winners were Tartan, Marvel Loch, and Bellis. Grafton, who is second, has no fewer than 124J races oredited to him by his eons and daughters, the total amount of winnings being £14,775. No other sire got into five figures, but Wallace had 43 wine, value £9516; Simmer, 91 wins, value £8171; and True Blue, 15 wins, value £8000.