The Fielding Star, Oroua & Kiwitea Counties Gazette. Published Daily. TUESDAY, JUNE 8, 1897. THE BOOKMAKERS.

Feilding Star, Volume XVIII, Issue 285, 8 June 1897, Page 2

The Fielding Star, Oroua & Kiwitea Counties Gazette. Published Daily. TUESDAY, JUNE 8, 1897. THE BOOKMAKERS.

* The crusade against the bookmakers in New South Wales still continues, aud, as a natural consequence, a feeling of sympathy with them has been excited in certain quarters. In proof of this a cablegram from Sydney, received on Monday morning, stated : — The effect of the decision in reference to cash betting was apparent at the winter meeting of tho Jockey Club on Friday. The attendance was very poor, and the bookmakers were also less in evidence. Ihe members whose names were taken by the police risked prosecution and freely accepted cash bets- The majority, however, confined themselves to booking bets — The impression desired to be conveyed is, that to make a race meeting a success there must be a congregation of recognised and unrecognised bookmakers in attendance. This is pure and unadulterated nonsense. Tbe bookmakers do no more to make tbe success of a race meeting than the erection of Tenterden steeple had to do with the formation of the Goodwin sands. We do not believe for one moment that any attempt to crush cut betting, or gambling in some form or another, on horse races will ever succeed, but we do honestly believe thafc the evil can be mitigated and kept witbin proper bounds by the laws in that respect now extant being administered with firmness and prudence. Although the absence of tbe few from racecourses as represented by the bookmakers and their satelities may make a difference in " the gate money " for a little time, yet the very absence of these persons must ultimately become a direct encouragement to the many who do not attend race meetings simply because the presence of these (to them) objectionable persons keeps them away. The bookmakers have been the canker of honest racing for years, and tbe sooner they become extinct as the Dodo tbe tetter for the sporting world.