£l0,000 IN ONE DAY.

Thames Star, Volume LVII, Issue 15113, 23 December 1921, Page 3

£lo,ooo IN ONE DAY.

BIG SCOOP PROM HURDLER. How a racehorse trainer made nearly £IO,OOO in. one day with a horse that had \ieen given him, was j told in the District Court, Melbourne, last week. Louis Robertson, a trainer and farm manager, was ' charged with having made false Federal income' tax returns for the years 1916, 1917, and 1918. Mr Percy L. Smith prose- ( cuted on behalf of the department, j and Robertson was defended by Mr W. J. Z.lann. 'j J. T. Pinner, an accountant, em- | ployed by the department, said that after demand had been made, Robertson submit Led a return, showing that •his gross income in each of 1916, 1917, and 1918 was £312, and that his neb taxable income was £lB5 in. each year. An investigation of his bank book showed that in 1916 his net taxable income was £2440 10/-, in 1917 £676 3/2, and 1918 £3685 3/6. Robertson told Pinner that his salary of £5 a week would not pay his personal expenses, and that he I relied on punting for his income. Robertson had been allowed all possible deductions, including large sums' paid to jockeys for riding en-: ■ gagements, which, were the following: ' Foulsham £SOO, Aecola £556; Dempsey £590, Harrison £450, Herbert £392, and Bullock £647. [ RISE TO FORTUNE.

The story of Robertson's large betting transactions and his rapid rise to fortune was told by counsel. Robertson, he "said, came to Australia from New Zealand in 1908, bringing a few hundred pounds and a racehorse.: He worked and-made money until 1912, when a friend gave him a horse ealled Wingarra. Quickly appreciating its value, he spent some of his time training the horse, and in the same year entered him for the ■Grand.National Hurdle Race. Robertson backed the horse to win £6OOO, and was laid £looo' to nothing by the drawer of the. horse in Tattersall's sweep. How Wingarra won the race was now history, 1 and Robertson won £6OOO in bets, £IOOO from the winner of Tattersall's, and over £2OOO in stakes. With the £IOOO he had saved he had capital of well over £IO,OOO. In 1913 he joined A. and G. Tye, and took over the management of their racing stables and stud farm, "Allendale," at a salary of £5 a week and 5 per cent, of the stakes won by the stable's horses, various reasons the Tye brothers were short of ready money, and Robertson agreed to conduct the farm with his money, pay all racing, expenses, and make bets, on the Tye Bros.' behalf, receiving 50 per cent, of all winnings, and a refund of all the expenses out of the farm's half of the winnings. LAVENDO WINS.

In 1912 the Tye Bros, had borrowed £3OOO from Robertson. In 1915 Robertson entered Lavendo for the Caulfield Cup, and the stable won £SOOO, Robertson's share being £2500." These winnings he lent to the Tye Bros. From 1916 to 1917 Robertson, lent further sums, until the Tye Bros, owed him about £7OOO. During these - two years the Tye Bros, did not collect from Robertson various winnings that amounted to between £3OOO and £4OOO. In November, 1918, Robertson left theTye Bros., and in a final settlement they paid him £5935 on sums of money borrowed. No interest was paid. Mr Mann contended that Robertson was taxable only on his salary, because, according to a recent decision given in New South Wales, money won by betting by anyone who did not conduct betting as a business could not be taxed. Robertson relied on his salary to keep him, and not on his turf winnings. The sums of money paid back by the Tye Bros, consisted of Robertson's capital, and also could not be taxed.

In fining Robertson £6O (£2O on each charge), Mr Phillip Cohen, P.M., said that a man who won so many thousands of pounds, must have known it was his duty to submit returns and let the department decide what amounts were taxable.