HOUSE OF LORDS TALKS ON TOTE BILL

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 71, Issue 176, 27 July 1928, Page 7

HOUSE OF LORDS TALKS ON TOTE BILL

RACING EXPENSES COMPARED. [ Australian Press Assn.—United Service , Received July 26, 8.5 p.m. LONDON, July 25. In the House of Lords, discussing the Betting Bill, which legalises the tote, Lord Derby gave a startling comparison of the cost of racing in England and in France, based on his own experience. Every racehorse engaged in England, he sa.d, had to earn £650 in stakes within a year before the year’s expenses were cleared, whereas in France only <£lBo was needed- The difference in cost to the breeder and owner was entirely attributable to th? lower entrance fees in France, which the totalisator made possible. The tote also enabled the French Government to place well-bred stallions at the disposal of breeders. He instanced his own good luck in purchasing, a horse which won the Grand Prix. That horse was got by a Government stallion, for which cither no fee or only a nominal amount was paid. The second reading -was agreed to without a division. In an amusing supporting speech, Lord Dcsborough alluded to the raucous bookmakers and their litter. He had often listened in bygone days to tnc blandishments of bookmakers boasting that they had dined the night before with Lord Rothschild, who, on those occasions, must have had a noisy party. They confessed that he confided to them the name of the winner, and if it came off sometimes those bookmakers were missing. “We are passing from greyhound racing to terriers chasing a rat. Next we will have Pomeranians chasing white mice,” he said.”