ALL DRAWERS OF HORSES RESIDENTS OF BRITAIN.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 72, 25 March 1931, Page 1

ALL DRAWERS OF HORSES RESIDENTS OF BRITAIN.

Tremendous Interest Shown In Drawing Of The Irish Lottery .

CUni'ed Press Association. —By Electric Teiegrapn.—Copyright.} (Received March 25, 9.20 a.m.) DUBLIN, March 24. It is officially announced that the total receipts in the Grand National Sweepstake amounted to £1,755,963, and the prize money £1,181,815. The first prize totals £354,544, the second £177,272 and the third £llß,lßl.

A great crowd awaited the draw. Women linguists, one with a knowledge of Chinese, were ready to communicate the results to all parts of the world from which tickets came, but, with the exception of one South African, all the drawers of horses were residents of Britain.

Much to Ireland’s disappointment, thirteen horses, including seven probable runners, have been drawn by Londoners, who are thus assured of a minimum of £l2Bl apiece. An Italian cafe keeper at Battersea Park, with forty relatives (all shareholders) and a Lambeth grocer, hold Isola and Melleray’s Belle respectively. The staff of the Y.M.C.A. hostel at Clapham Road, despite the attitude of the institution regarding horse racing, hold Drixnmond. REMARKABLE SCENE AT THE MANSION HOUSE. DUBLIN, March 23. The gigantic Irish Sweepstake on the Grand National Steeplechase produced a remarkable scene at the Mansion House in Dublin, where three hundred girls were employed at seven long _ trestle /tables throughout the day mixing the 3.576,000 counterfoils of the ten shilling tickets. Following this thorough mixing, the counterfoils were placed in a great steel drum ready for the draw on Tuesday. Armed police are guarding the drum day and night until the drawing. . An interesting development is the presence in Dublin of some sixty bookmakers ready to make offers to drawers of horses as soon as the drawing is announced.