The Manawatu Herald. Tuesday, April 30, 1912. NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 1037, 30 April 1912, Page 2

The Manawatu Herald. Tuesday, April 30, 1912. NOTES AND COMMENTS.

One of the most extraordinary features iu connection with the prevalence of bookmaking in Auckland is that the Post and Telegraph Department lends assistance to those desiring to use It as an agent, As an illustration, the experience of an Auckland Star representative may be mentioned. With a view to ascertaining to what extent it is possible to use the telegraph wires in getting into touch with a layer of odds, he handed iu a telegram at the Auckland telegraph office counter, addressed to a well-known address iu Vulcan Dane. The telegram read as follows : —I Ghoam April Handicap, £1 Specialist Farewell Handicap.” The telegram was accepted. On the occasion of the recent Easter meeting at Elderslie the same man put iu a telegram to another bookmaker asking for £1 bets on both Sea Pink and Devastation. The telegram was received and delivered, and the winnings on Sea Pink were collected later. The advantage of betting by telegram or post is that the “punter” is exempted from the possibility of being caught iu a betting shop, as some eighty people were caught iu the recent raid. He never goes near the bookmakers’ premises, unless to collect a dividend, which, iu the natural course 01 things, is not very often. Another reason why betting by telegram is popular is that the client often wishes to make a bet just before a race is due to be run. The bookmaker may not be available immediately, and there may not be lime to follow him to his usual haunts. Accordingly, the telegram form is requisitioned, and it does not matter whether the telegram reaches its destination before or after the race, since the time stamped upon it by the telegraph operator makes it acceptable as a wager. Surely the time has arrived when this sort of thing should be prohibited, since the bookie has been legally abolished,

In an interview at Christchurch last week, the Hon. J. A. Millar hinted that the newspapers would have plenty of copy in a few weeks. The late Minister lor Railways, has a rod in pickle for some one and the opinion is gaining ground that what the Hon. Mr Millar will have to say will not tend to strengthen or lengthen the present Ministry’s term of office. Mr Millar has been given a free hand by his constituents, and it is safe to assume that he will make some startling pronouncements in reference to the present political situation.