TOTALISATOR.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1342, 20 January 1912, Page 5

TOTALISATOR.

N. S. WALES COMMISSION. FINAL SITTING HERE, RACINQ CLUB OFFICIALS. MR. WHYTE'S EVIDENCE. 'Clio Now South Wale's Totnlisator Commission resumed yc'df'iday morning; and sppjit tho greater part of tlie day in taking ftirlhor evidence. Tlil-re were present: Sir. If. Si. Lerieii, 51.1,.A. .(president), tho lion. \V. M'Cimvt, S!.l\> and Hon. B. B. O'Connor, AI.L.A., tho Hon. Jas. Wilson, SI.L.A., tiici lion. Rubt. Ilollis, M.fj.Atlia. iloh Jlenry J.'etcrs, St.L.A., Mr. H. Itnintncll, M.l\, and Sir. J. C. L. Fitzpatrick, Sl.l\ Arthur Edward \Vb f vte, accountant and secretary : of tho Wellington Racing Club, was the first withes:? examined, lie stilled that ho had had experienoo of racing in Scotland and New Zealand, and had seen betting under nil conditions. To his niind it was unquestionable that tho totalisator .'implied tho least harmful niethod of Iktting. 110 w.-is not speaking in regard to racing club finance. No youth, unless ho_ was , inherently bad, would- embezzle iii colli blood to bet on tho totalisator. _ On tho other hand, a youth betting with a bookmaker on credit might get into debt, and, being pressed fox payment) might be tempted to em- ! »in an ciidcavoiir.to escape from his difficulties. . The totalisator was li cash system absolutely. This, to.his mind, was tho principal safeguard. Thfero; w;is a greater daiiger to tho public in betting with tho bookmaker... At the Wellington Racing.Club's course ; thcro was a window where an investor could deposit a cheque, say, for .£SOO, and operate on that, amount afterwards. This window was introduced merely for the convenience of the racing chili officials. Tho totalisator had reduced tho volume of big betting, as it was iriipossiblo for an owner in New Zealand (o bet moro than .£l5O on his horse without knocking his dividend oil (lie head. The tendency of tin? machine was to limit the plunger. It might tend also to encourage tho smaller investor as it gavo him a better chance. The totalisator had not abolished tho bookmaker because, .unfortunately, the Legislature hriil abolished the double totalisator. Had tliey left, the double i totalisator therd_ would not have been a bookmaker left in New. Zealand. The totalisator, Sly. Whyte continued, ' tended to reduce fraud. on the part of 1 jockeys and trainers. It was practically impossible. to corrupt the totalisator, as, Under the Wellington system, eight ir.ci\, liot always the .same, eight, would have to be corrupted. The bookmakers in New Zealand had been, on an average, men of a good type. Tho totalisator had not been forced in becauso of "welshing." They knew of only two cases of "welshing" in the Wellington Eacing Club. Better Than Credit Betting. Sir. O.i S. Watkins, a steward of the Wellington Racing Club, stated that he had held that ofl'ico for about three yeiars. , Previous to that he had been treasurer to tho club for about seven years. Mr. Watkins described in detail the working of the totalisator under the jurisdiction of his club. He considered that, from the general public's point of view, totalisator betting was preferable to. betting with bookmakers. Cash betting was preferable to credit baiting. , In answer to a question .is to whether lie did not think that n. portion of the percentage levied by clubs should be .de- I voted to tho upkoop of cricket, football, ] and other sports, witness replied that, j personally, bo thought that the great part of the proceeds should be devoted to the improvement of racing. It was difficult to discover what proportion of tho money put over tho totalisator camo from racing owners, and what proportion from the general public. Ho did not think that a portion of tho totalisator proceeds should bo devoted to the upkeop of hospitals and charitablo institutions.