SNAIL RACES OH DESKS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12826, 27 July 1912, Page 2 (Supplement)

SNAIL RACES OH DESKS.

L PASTIME FOR TiREi) CLERKS

Bitter resentment %rtts-?been aroused' among ofe-^ tli^ f .G^yernment offices, m !^arjs r . t^ft! ..campaign against snail-racing which has been undertaken .bY tho authorities-. "" ; ' ■ ■ '

Snail-racing is ithe favorite recreation of French .Government clerks, who beguile .the. tedious hpurs/by racing tuan^ snails 'against those i of their friends. , This libbby was- Tinknbwn' to the authorities' until a recent inspection, when a highly placed, official .opened thed^sl<!s |of, thes.e clerics, and , foiled a,.munber > ,Qf cardbpard' "^nairstablea' s , containing let-tuce-'fedt"racing snails^ '■'• ■ ••■ Inquiries were Instituted, "and it was found -,t)iM the.'passion /{or artail racing lhad taken such a hold of the clerical i st ?# .s?* prou«i. . qjvners of N p^rtigular ly iswift "snails were bettiiig Heavily oh their ifavbrites." f TMe^' 1 "campaign ;; agairis't' r th'e jpastime.;;wa«r inaugurated? with a view to: .stamping out this incentive to betting

; RULES OF SNAIL-RACING. ■ ' A 'iEuench business manager «who is staying at the Hotel Cecil described the -jSFPW'. reprsservtative., "There la kfe^n' competition among enthusiasts' whenever' a well-known snail comes into the market," Jie said, ac much. ;aa,3ss has been ; paid for a champion, racer. ,;Hie rules of anail racing: ai'e 1 as follows i— (I), Tjie course not ,to be more thaii a foot' 'and' a Half' ih length ( bn -a 'clear desk ; ! (2)^if "the wrifning snail talj:eß : nior©'4han- threequarteife of an hour to cover .the, course thevrace SK •-Sft-A? aT f d ,-j f ? li 5 (3) Nq lpaiit other thAh lettuce, shall' be placed at the winning post j (4) AH sfiafls shair beliandi-capped;-o.n,their 'weight, and not their age. , . . „....'.■- ■ •. -.■-.■■ .-. .... : ''Betjjng.'is freely 'indulged in,','.. thi manager added, ; "and many clerks have totmd -themselves iii Se^ioiis difficulties'