SETTLING NIGHT AT THE MASONIC.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VIII, Issue 1246, 14 February 1881, Page 2

SETTLING NIGHT AT THE MASONIC.

I had never attended one of these settlings. I don't run race horses myself, and I don't bet, Still 1 thought 1 would go and see what it was like ; and 1 went ; and, after all, there was not very much in the affair. 1 saw one man receive thirty pounds in bank notes. He scarcely troubled to count them, but just said, " All right, old flick." 1 thought the receiver was a lucky fellow, till some one came up to him with his book in his hand, when the one who had received the thirty pounds added eleven more notes, and passed them away. And so this sort of thing went on between most of those in the room. Mon received and paid awny, and went on receiving and paying away, so that a stranger like myself really could not ,say who were the winners, or who the losers. 1 saw one man meet another man, and shake hands. They both referred to their bocks, and found, after <i little reckoning up, that one owed the other as near as possible what the other owed him. I don't know how this came about. The two had no dispute, no argument, no anything unpleasant. I suppose it had been a case of cross betting, or the difference in certain odds given and taken on several events. It may have been this, or something else I know nothing about ; but it seemed to me that things between the two were about equal, as the larrikin said to his mate, when on asking, "What luck, Bill," Bill informed him that he had lost a handkerchief and stole a knife There were men in the room whom I supposed ought to be designated " professionals " —men who live by betting and owning horses ; shrewd men, cool of head, and quick at calculations ; men who don't drink much, and what they do drink ia something "soft." They pay their losings or receive their winnings with, apparently, complete indifference and nonchalance. It is a funny sort of life is that of one man living upon another man's losses. I don't know whether it lasts long. In instances this may be the case, but 1 think the instanpes are not many. I recollect some time ago— it was in Auckland- that I hired a trap for a drive, and the man who took my horse from me on my return wa» a shabby, woebegone fellow — haggard of look, Boiled, and out at the toes. Thia man had been v book-maker. T was told!

had knocked down a pile of money ; had, in his day, shouted champagne by the bucket ; but he had come down so low as to thank me for the shilling I dropped into the palm of his hand. I am told there are scores and scores of such men in the colony. I don't think betting is a wholesome or cleanly way of obtaining a livelihood ; and must unfit men for anything in the shape of a legitimate occupation. What, however, 1 did not like was to see men in the room who I knew had no right to be there. Men who were not professionals ; and these men for the greater number had to pay over money which I am very well sure they could not afford to pay, and could only pay at the expense of others. Gambling debts are said to be debts of honor ; debts which must be paid before all others ; before the landlord, the butcher, the baker, the draper, the boardinghouse keeper, even the washerwoman. It is a gross mis-application of this grand old word— honor. I am rascal enough to bet a man man money which if I lose I cannot pay withoHt causing my creditors to suffer- either to wait — to receive in small parts, or not to receive at all ; but Ido pay my bets, because they are debts of honor. Never mind my wife, nor my children, nor my character. I go on to a race-course, and bet money which, if I have to pay, I raise it by borrowing or selling something, or raise it by other means much worse, because 1 have incurred a debt of honor, which being honestly interpreted means a most dirty, disresreptable debt 1 am told that the " settling "on Saturday night was very satisfactory. A few, and only a few, did not " show up." These were, I was informed, those living away up in the country, who had not been able to come in. The bookmakers were all there " ready to pay or receive." Some of these were looking around them as if there were those they would like to see. Hut lam pleased to learn there was not one of them that did not meet all demands. 1 suppose they had made good books^that is to say they had won more than they had lost.

Everyone connected with the race meet expressed themselves thoroughly satisfied with the arrangments of the stewards, both on and off the course. Every claim against the Club was met on the instant it was made. Captain Ferris, as honorary secretary, and overlooker in general, was indefatigable and untiring in his efforts to do what was right, and he succeeded admirably. There are yet funds in hand, which I presume will be carried to the credit of the next set of events ; but I think the honorary secretary should not be forgotten. Snyoer.