WELLINGTON TROTTING CLUB

Free Lance, Volume I, Issue 44, 4 May 1901, Page 16

WELLINGTON TROTTING CLUB

The above meeting was concluded on Wednesday of last week The municipal elections affected the attendance Speculation wa.s not heavy, only £b(>t2 being passed through the machine, in l()s tickets The Local Handicap field was not a good one, and Montreal (harne&s), going steadier than usual, won anyhow from Hilda. The Member trotted a mile in harness in 2min 35sec, and never gave his opponents a chance in the Hutt Handicap. B. Edwards, who drove The Member, won the following ovent on Bob K.T , who put up omin lOsecs, with lOsecs start, but could have won from sciatch. Neither Modesty (M. Ed-

wards) nor The Member (Y. Samuels) were seen to advantage in this race. The Joker, who hails from Auckland, was on scratch, but goes very unsteadily. It would be interesting to know vi hat he and the* other Aucklander (Belle) wero handicapped on. Mr. Sharp wanted to scratch Perewiti for the Ladies' Bracelet, but was induced to start. He went out a strong favourite, and won anyhow from the Wairarapa pony Comet, owned and ridden by Mr. K. J. Ussher, owner of Kohunui. The handsome two-year-old Chnstchurch pacing pony Onward (by Electioneer) \\ on the mile and a half harness race, a,t a 2.40 gait. Steve Hart, who «as making Ins first appearance in harness, trotted well in this event, and won a saddle race, in 2 46, just beating Vim, who showed a bit of her old dash. The local-ow ned Murmur (a pacer bj Blackwood — Abdallah), won a mile saddle race, in 2min 40 2-ssec. Naughty Girl did not run up to her first day form. The meeting was capably managed by Mr. E. W. Garner. The public and hoi&e-owncrs do not support the gatherings. What is wanted is new blood in the management, better stakes, a well-known man, like Mr. H. Bnnkman, of Christchurch, as handicapper, and up-to-date officials. These matters should be seen to at the annual meeting of members.

James Bain is still paddling his little canoe over a calm sea, and making a prosperous trip. On Monday last he wired that he had an overcrowded house at Nelson on Friday night. He 4s steering a Southern course, and expects to give Invercargill a treat on the 24th May. * » * Mr. Fred. L. Seager, of Wellington, who has been manager for Mr. Percy Dix in Auckland since early last year, take up managerial duties in Dunedin Alhambra, in place of Mr. Bailey, who goes to Auckland. Before leaving Auckland, Mr. Seager was presented by the Gaiety Company there with a sil-ver-mounted nipe, a cigar-holder, and a pair of gold sleeve-links. * * * Edmond Sayers, of Wellington, is now assistant stage manager at Manchester Princess. * * * 'Tis said, over on the other side, that Walter Baker, Bland Holt's leading man, has seemed extremely( nervous on the stage ever since his domestic troubles were made public in the recent court case, and that the reason why he stands out of the latest Bland Holt production is that his anxieties have got on to his nerves, and left him unequal to the game. The wife of Henry Stockwell, the New Zealand tenor, died in London in February. # Reported that Charles Warner, at the conclusion of his present South African tour, will visit Australia with "Hamlet," "Captain Swift," "Road to Ruin," and "Drink." The rumour is pretty solid, for dates are inquired for in the chief centres. It is just twelve years since he was last here. * • • Maud Hewson, well known in Wellington, has thoroughly established herself as a favourite in Westralia. An episode not on the programme happened to her the other week. Whilst performing in the society sketch. "The Artist's Model," with James Watts, there was just a little too much realism, for which Maud was in no wise responsible. As part of the piece, she has to go behind a screen and change her robes to pose as a model of James Watts, the artist. Whilst in the very act of Soing so the screen toppled over, Miss Hewson could not stop it —and the audience saw, what simply convulsed it, Miss Hewson skipping for dear life through the wings looking for a shawl or "something." * • • Lawrence Dunbar, an actor who graduated from New Zealand, has just had an unpleasant experience at Broken Hill, where he is playing with Maggie Moore. On the first night, while interfering in a stage brawl, a brother actor let a sharp knife gash across Dunbar's right wrist. Dunbar bled horribly, and, until the doctors stitched up the wound, fears were entertained of serious results.

No doubt were Dickens btill alive He'd yet write many a tale, Though he is dead his woiks still survive, Their reading ne'er grows stale. So many try to imitate, But they remain obscure, For coughs and colds don't hesitate, Take Woods' Gbeat Peppermint Cuke.