A NUT FOR THE FADDISTS TO CRACK.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XVII, Issue 994, 25 March 1909, Page 6

A NUT FOR THE FADDISTS TO CRACK.

Very few of the leading London papers are in sympathy with the contemplated attack on betting, and, incidentally, racing in England, and even “ The Times” goes out of its way to point out the thousands the “ great game” benefits- It says: “Few institutions are without their enemies; and persons who have no sympathy with the Turf are in particular aecus-

tomed to take a narrow and perverted view of the national sport. Attempts have been made to show how many millions sterling are annually brought into circulation by means of the Turf; but the ramifications of the sport are so devious and unending that nothing like trustworthy figures can possibly be obtained. Last year 3706 horses ran under Jockey Club rules at meet ings which extended from March 25 to November 28. Trainers and their servants constitute an army, and the acreage remuneratively occupied frv breeding and training establishments and racecourses is enormous. It would ■be difficult to mention a trade which does not benefit directly by the Turf. The horses and their attendants have to be housed and fed; training and breeding establishments and race stands have employed architects, builders, and labourers, and the care of courses furnishes employment op a scale which is little imagined. After a day’s sport, when the ground is deep attempts are made on carefully-pre-pared tracks to smooth away every hoof mark. The traffic which racing occasions is a most important item in the receipts of many railway companies; hotels and local tradesmen in towns where meetings are held benefit hugely; a fact so well recognised in Paris that earnest efforts are being made to prolong the season for a few weeks at the end of the year. Many businesses which would scarcelv appear to a casual investigator to be concerned with racing derive wealth from it —opticians, for example- The number of race glasses sold annually must he reckoned by thousands.”