TALK OF THE DAY

Otago Witness, Issue 2818, 18 March 1908, Page 70

TALK OF THE DAY

By Sentinel. THE SOUTH CANTERBURY MEETING. If a lengthy list of nominations can be taken as a good augury, the South Canterbury Jockey dub have an excellent prospect of holding a successful gathering at its autumn meeting. The Timaru Cup ha« attracted a field of 23, and the Autumn Handicap, which will be the chief attraction on the second day's card, has filled with 25 nominations. The balance of the programme has also been well supported, and a conspicuous feature of the nominations is the liberal manner in which owners residing south of the Waitaki have nominated their horsey. In the Timaru Cup the Dunedin Cup winner Annamento holds pride of place with 9.0 opposite hie name. This represents an increase of 171b on the burden he carried to the front at Wingatui, hut at Timaru the journey is a couple of furlongß shorter than our Cup distance. Armamento is asked to meet Lapland on 201b, Speculate on 181b, Notus on 241b, Bed-and-Black on 191b, Jack Ashore on 251b, and Hilarity on 161b woree terms than -when he met and defeated those horses in, the Dunedin Cup. In addition to the horses named above the Timaru Cup is further strengthened by the inclusion of Crosa Battery 8.11, Paragon 8.10, Gwendolina 8.9, De Witte 8.9, Ivanoff 8.2, Lady Dis-

dain 8.2, Lady Landon, 7.10, Mercy 7.10, Thunderer 7.9, Araboise 7.8, The Libyan 7.7, Tremulous 7.5, Southern Cross 7.0, tone 7.0, Highland Reel 6.9, and Restless 6.7. There re ample material here to furnish both a large field and a good race. Lupulite has been awarded 9.8 in the I lying Handicap, five furlongs, and Sea King, the winner of the Publicans' Handicap, fs in at 9.3, or 241b more than he carried in the latter race. All Guns, who finished third in the Publicans' with 7.11. is up to 8.10. Imaginary goes from 7.9 to 8.1, Zetland is lifted 31b, and completes the list of those who met in the Publicans' and are now engaged over a furlong less ground at Timaru. Octave, who showed good form at Wingatui, is in at 8.1, and is meeting the best field she has ever run against up to date, whilst «everal others who are smart over short courses are also engaged. Acceptances must be declared on the 18th. , THE DUNEDIN WINTER MEETING. I The Dunedin Jockey Club are already inviting the attention of horse-owners to the programme of the winter meeting, which is set down for Wednesday and Thursday, June 3 and 4-. The principal items on the first day's card are to be the Birthday Handicap, of 200sovs, one mile and a-quarter, and Tradesmen's Handicap, of 125eovs, six furlongs, whilst on the second day i;he Provincial Handicap, of 150sovs, one mile ? and Wairongoa Handicap, of llOsovs, six furlongs, will form the chief attraction. With the exception of the Trial Plate, of 60sovs, every race on the programme is worth lOOsovs or over, and the balance of the list is made up as follows : — Pacific Hurdles, of lOOsovs. one mile and a-half; Brighton | Hack, of lOOsove, six furlongs; Saddle Hill I Hack, of lOOsovs, five furlongs ; Winter Welter, of lOOsovs, seven furlongs; FairI field Hurdles, of lOOsovs, one mile and three-quarters ; Silverstream Hack, of lOOeovs, five furlongs ; Invermay Welter, of lOOsovs, six furlongs; Riccarton Hack, of lOOsovs, six furlongs;, and Farewell Handicap, of lOOsovs, seven furlongs. Nominations for all events, except the Trial and Farewell, close on Friday, May 15. THE WAIMATE MEETING. The Waimate Racing Club have been favoured with excellent acceptances for their annual meeting, which promises to be the best held in the district for many years past. A field of 12 has cried content in the Waimate Cup, and whatever is fortunate enough to catch the judge's eye as a winner will have to put up a good battle before getting his number on top. There is one thing to be said about the Waimate track, and it is that a horse requires to be fairly handy in order to negotiate some of the turns. The turn out of the straight is somewhat abrupt, and if a horse gets badly placed it natur- | ally makes the task of winning doubly hard, particularly if a fairly large field is racing on what is a somewhat small and narrow track. A good field has also paid up for the H4rvest Handicap, and taking the acceptances all .round, it will be rather disappointing if the club does not achieve a record meeting. RETTING- AND GAMBLING. The bishops of the southern provinces in convocation recently assembled, listened to a denunciation of betting and gambling from the Bishop of Hereford^ couched in that Right Reverend Prelate's beet manner. No one doubts that gambling, in the true sense of the word, is a serious evil, but we hope (says the London Globe) that the sub-committee of the bishops which is to report on the subject will not be led hastily to assume that Dr Percival had sa.id the last word on the matter, or lend themselves to recommendations which may very well _prove worse than futile. Before committing themselves to any conclusion, it would be well if the members of the subcommittee would arrive at some satisfactory definition of betting and gambling, and explain how they distinguish between that which they permit and that which they condemn. When & Right Reverend Father in God insures his life he is just as much I guilty of betting as John Stiles when he i backs his fancy at Epsom. The only difference is that one gambles on the life of a bishop and 1 the other on the speed of a ! horse. The bishop bets the insurance company that he will die before a. certain date, _and the company, by means of medical examinations and many searching questions, takes quite as much care as does John Stiles's bookmaker to -see that his lordship has not got anything above the market odds. So impossible ie it to make any logical distinction between the action of the insurer and of the backer of horees, that the law itself has been compelled to recognise its essential similarity. In all statutes dealing with what are called "wagering contracts " it has been found necessary to insert words specifically excepting contracts for marine, life, and fire insurance, which would otherwise have fallen under the same ban as the betting slips of the street-corner bookmaker — that pest of the working man. The subject is not an easy one upon which to legislate, and the more it is looked at the more difficult it appears. That betting is wrong in itself we decline to believe. One of the most eJoquent and practical bishops who ever sat on tho bench declared, when this question was agitated some years ago, that he " would be no party to making new sins," and it is as well to recall the refreshing common-sense of that pronouncement just now. Gambling, which we take to be betting beyond one's means, or at least risking more than one is legitimately entitled to pay for an amusement, is lertainly to be condemned. It stands on the , same footing with any other prodigal expenditure of money, and, like the other forms of euoh expenditure, it is often productive of terrible distress to innocent people. Whether a. man can ever be prevented by any means short of declaring him to be incapable of managing his affairs from wasting his substance in this and similar ways is quite another question. A fool and his money are soon parted, and we doubt whether all the wisdom of Parliament and Convocation combined will ever suffice to keep them together. Assuredly men will always bet. Premiers and prelates will not disdain to purchase shares when a good " tip " comes in their way, and it does not alter the real character of the transactions to oall it "prudent investment." Business men will continue to take " fair commercial risks," stock-brokers will continue to follow their profession in face of that great monujnent of Parliamentary ineptitude and judicial common-sense known as Leeming's Act, end if the average man is not allowed any longer to back horses on a racecourse, he will back flies on a window-pane. So long as the market is not rigged, the stocks

watered, the horse pulled, or the fly surreptitiously diverted from its course, none of these people has any right to complain. They have each got exactly what they pa.id for — the chance of a considerable profit ; and if they are prudent they have not paid more for it than it is worth or more than they can afford. To suppose that the desire for speculation can ever be eradicated ie to suppose that we «hall some day have a world peopled exclusively by Bishops of Hereford. That, we confess, is not a prospect to which we look forward with any particular enthusiasm ; but until it is realised we are afraid that it must be admitted that among those who speculate, whether it be in shares ox horses, there will always be found some who do it beyond their means. Upon the turf they are perhaps not quite so certain to be ruined as upon the Stock Exchange. The Bishop of Hereford denounces th© papers for publishing the advice ' of their sporting prophets, because it seems that Canon Horsley has discovered that the aforesaid prophets are wrong «even times for every once they are right. Those eminent ecclesiastics would perhaps do well to study the mysterious question of odds before they rashly assume that even such am estimate necessarily spells ruin to the prophets' followers. That, however, is but parenthetical, and we should be the last to deny that meny people do seriously injure themselves and their families by betting more than they can afford to lose. , The most the law can dp is to remove temptation as far as posible from those whose .circumstances do not justify them in making wagers to any serious amount. A great deal of temptation k placed before the young and before the poor, -and we have not the least, objection to seeing: those who are jrnilty of doing so punished with considerable rigour. But to imagine that betting " per se " can ever be suppressed is j absurd. In all probability the best and perhaps the only real remedy for the admitted evils which follow in the train of gambling 16 to teach people the essential folly, not to say immorality, of accepting in stocks, horses, cards, or what you will, anything less than the real od<feTHE BEAUMONT MEETING. The Beaumont Jockey Club has issued its programme for its annual meeting, which is set down for Easter Monday, April 20. A programme consisting of eight events has been headed by the Beaumont Handicap, of 35sovs (one mile), and n<»xt in monetary importance- comes the Novel Handicap, of 30sovs, the Dunkeld Trot, of 30sovs, and Farewell Trot, of 30« ova. Other races are to be the Maiden Plate, of 20sovs. President's Hack Welter, of 25sovs, Flying Handicap, of 25eovs, and Farewell Handicap, of 26sovs. Nominations for all handicaps close on Saturday, March 28. Handicaps are due on April 4, and acceptances and entries for Maiden Plate on Saturday, April 11.