SPORTING SCRAPS.

Waipawa Mail, Volume XX, Issue 3549, 16 January 1897, Page 4

SPORTING SCRAPS.

A cash Cycling Club has been formed at Danevirke.

During the present season in England St Simon’s progeny have won £59,273.

Mr W. T. Jones states that he and bis partner were offered £BOOO for Newhaven, which they refused. Most of the Australians regard R. Abel as the finest bat upon all wickets in England. He is one of the few who do not play with their pads.

An Australian baseball team will shortly leave for America, composed for the greater part of well-known cricketers. Bruce and Laver, of Melbourne, are working things up. The American sportsman, Lewis G. Tewksbury, is the owner of three pacers whose records average 2.2 John R. Gentry, 2.01 1 Robert J., 2.11 i and Mascot, 2.4. Two Victorian cricketers now enjoy the distinction of having made a century in their first Intercolonial match, viz., J. M'llwraith in 1885 against N. S.W., and J. O'Halloran in 1897 against South Australia. Mr S. H. Gollan’s steeplechaser Ebor (by Robert the Devil), won the Castle Steeplechase, being tho third win by'that horse within a fortnight. The same owner's Norton (Ascot — Romp), appropriated the Egham Steeplechase at Windsor.

The bookmaker is to be crowded out at the Oakley track, Cincinnati (A.), during the present year, and all betting is to be done through the Totalisator. In order that ail classes of backers shall be catered for tho management intend having ten, five, two, and one dollar machines. The building of a hospital for jockeys and others who meet with accidents during their professional career is likely to become an accomplished fact in France. The French Jockey Club has given the ground for building the infirmary, &e., and added a sum of £6OOO towards the expenses of the building, and a further grant of £4OOO will be made out of the profits from pari-mutual betting. According to an exchange the North Queensland Racing Association executive contemplates the abolition of the bookmaker, and the registered clubs in North Queensland are passing resolutions pro or con to assist the executive in coming to a conclusion. Both the Towers and Townsville papers speak out strongly against the bookmakers, whom they hope to see excluded from all North Queensland racecourses.

A nailless horse shoe is the latest invention, and it is said to be in general use in Germany. The shoe has from four to six rectangular Blots, wider at the lower than at the upper surface, serving to retain the clips and wedges by which the arrangement is

made secure. The clipß and wedges are of steel, and can be made to any suitable form and strength. The clip has two sharp points, which are bent inwards, and inserted into the surface of the outer wall of the hoof, thus holding the shoe in its place; the wedges are driven - upwards through the slot in the shoe and between the two prongs of the clip, so as to hold the latter tight in the slot.

Lord Hawke, captain of the Yorkshire County Eleven, speaking at the end of November at a dinner at Harrogate, to which the players were entertained, spoke out on the question of professional cricketers. Referring to the fact that the Yorkshire County Committee had passed a resolution to pay the players £2 each per week during the Winter months, which was a most proper thing to do, he said he had bad more to do with the scheme than anyone else, and it was not reasonable to pay their men in the Summer, expect them to go to work in the Winter, and then como out in May good cricketers. He hoped to persuade the players to draw £1 a week each and put the balance away as n nest egg. He wanted his players to have more respect for themselves and feel they were dependent upon nobody. It was a task to play such a large number of matches, and he was glad to know that the members of the team would receive £5 whenever they stood out. The captain was the recipient of a handsome gold cigarette case presented by the ton professionals of his team.