A PRINTER'S ERROR.

NZ Truth, Issue 137, 1 February 1908, Page 5

A PRINTER'S ERROR.

THE CARD THAT WAS NOT CORRECT. Is the Racing Club Responsible? A Point for Punters to Ponder Upon. It is pretty well known that Wellington Racing Club issued an incorrect card for the second day of its recent meeting ;• m other words, the printers delivered a large number of programmes, which were subsequently sold, containing two vital omissions. The name of Sir Tristram was . left out of the Racing Club Handicap, and that of All Red did not appear m the list of acceptors for the Metropolitan Handicap. The mistakes were noticed and rectified m a late issue of race books, but the "cronk" cards remained m circulation, and this pair of "bloomers" might easily have been attended by consequences of a fair-reaching character. . The number of Sir Tristram m the W.R.C. Handicap, for example, was 5, and the animal's omission from the card' caused to be wrongly numbered seven horses of lower weight m the 'disastrous racebook. The correct number of Tangir moana, the winner, was 9. but it was given as 8 m the calamitous first issue t and had it not been for the fact that the real No. 8 (Aeolus) was scratched m the event, bamboozled backers of No. 8 might have "Mien m" to the extent of a dividend which '•' Truth" isn't allowed to publish. In the Metropolitan Handicap the horse that was given the winner's number m the perverted race-book wasn't scratched, and the club is met with a demand to dub up the dividend— which "TRUTH" WOULD SCORN TO PUBLISH — fctoat the investor should have drawn had he been supplied with a ' 'krect card." The number of All Red, omitted from ' the original abortion, was 4, and the animal's absence altered the numbers of seven other horses, including that of the winner } De Witte, who was 8 on the right programme, and 7 on the miserable specimen, of a card first disposed of to the public. .Holders of the wrong card would 'take a ticket on No. 7 if I they desired to 'back Do Witte, and would find subsequently that the investment was on Tupono. De Witte won and paid . This courageous paper will certainly break the law by; unthinkingly publishing a dividend one of these days. Holders of crook race-books who were given a ticket an No. 7 when they wanted De Witte's number were deprived of the dividend, and : the question is, Hay« they a remedy against the Racing Club) ? Are they entitled m la«w %o the dividend, whtoh this law-abiding journal would sooner die than permit to be mentioned m its columns ? Well, the Question is to be tested!"Truth" believes that a gentleman named Pryke, a conductor on the Kelburne tram\ implicitly followed the abominable production originally issued by the printer, backed No. 7, and breasted the slide for the dividend, which' "Truth" daren't particularise m figures. He was told that De, Witte's number was 8, despite the evidence of a publication n v arked "(copyright,') Official card,", which he held" m his hand. Pryke isn't a man to stand m silence a supposed imposition of this sort, and he made formal \applieation to the 'secretary for the dividend, which is on the tin of the writer's pen, and will slip into these valuable columns if he isn't careful. The SECRETARY WAS NATURALLY PERTURBED . as visions of a long chain of backers of No. 7 presenting their pasteboards for recognition were conjured up m his mind's eye. He des red Pi?ke to forward his wretohed racebook and ticket to a meeting of the stewards, and await. results with the patience of an afflijeted person who was coy* ered with boils, according to the Scriptures. This, we understand, the iram manipulator has done, but at the time of, publication his luck with the officials hasn't transpired. '■'Truth's" tame solicitor isn't on the premises at present, and an opinion, on the subject cannot be published, Wiit, to -the lay mind the fact that the Club circulated an unreliable programme as its official card makes the sporting body responsible for any loss to the public caused by the bor- ! rible bloomer. The question of whether Pryke would have refused to collact the dividend if Tupono (the real number .7) had won, doesn't seem to 'enter, because the Club (or its printer) made the mistake, and IT IS THE CLUB'S FUNERAL % all the time. s Also, the club's chance of recovering from the printer the dividend (which "Truth" has succeeded m suppressing), doesn't interest Pryke any. and his indifference to the printer's troubles is pardonable m the circumstances.