ABOUT THAT £1000 BET.

Patea Mail, Volume IX, Issue 1067, 1 August 1883, Page 3

ABOUT THAT £IOOO BET.

Regarding an item in the San Fran'■'Wsco mail news, as to Mr Labonchere’s refusal to pay over to Mr Irving Bishop the bet of £IOOO said to be won by him, the following paragraph from the Home Hews- will -be found to explain the reason :—Mr LabbUchere stipulated that the bolder of. the note should be Mr Firth, junior member for Chelsea. Mr Bishop at first refused to be bound by Mr Labonchere’s conditions, but subsequently intimated that if Mr Labon-; cliere and Mr Firth- would appear <at a seance on Tuesday, June-12, he would give them places on the platform, and Would endeavour to guess the figures on a note held by Mr .Firth. Neither Mr Firth, nor Mr Labonchere put in an appearance, and after some delay Mr Charles Russell placed a five-pound note in a sealed envelope in the hands of a Colonel Statham, who was nominated by the committee on the platform. Mr Irving Bishop, who was blindfolded, standing close by Colonel- Statham, after going through various bodily contortions, proceeded to down the number of the note on a blackboard. The figures were 66894. They were pronounced by Colonel Statham to be correct, and the opinion of the meeting Was that Mr Labonchere had lost his wager. That, however, is not quite Mr Labonchere’s view, and ns Mr Bishop did not perform his feat under the conditions for which Mr Labonchere stipulated, thb senior member for Northampton, intelligibly enough, declines to ■