BETTING ON RAIN.
COMEDY AND TRAGEDY OF INDIAN FLOODS. LONDON, September 20. i hile piteous stories of homelessness and suffering come from India during the rainy season, there is another clement that has at least a touch of comedy'. The reports below are from Calcutta, and relate to events on the same date. More than 100 The Police have villages are under arrested 23 bookwater in one area, makers alleged to and about 4000 peo- have been recording pie are in acute bets in connection distress. with the rainfall. The bookmakers were remanded, but at the preliminary' hearing their method was explained. Open cans were placed on the roofs of neighbouring houses, and bets were made on the quantity of water that would be found in them at the end of periods covered by' the wagers. The bookmakers laid against the total weight for the whole day being over ten ounces, and if there was found to be more the "punters” won. The decision is arrived at with almost scientific accuracy, as a graduated medicine glass is used, and all parties can watch the process of weighing or measuring. In a few instances the betting is more complicated, the bookmakers laying varied odds against different amounts of water falling in the receptacles, ranging from even money' up to twenty to one.
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Star (Christchurch), Issue 17995, 4 November 1926, Page 8
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221BETTING ON RAIN. Star (Christchurch), Issue 17995, 4 November 1926, Page 8
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