BETTING BY TELEGRAM.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 81848, 19 September 1906, Page 4

BETTING BY TELEGRAM.

ITS PROPOSED SUPPRESSION IN ENGLAND. BOOKMAKERS ALARMED. The suggested introduction of aliill in the House of Commons containing a provision to suppress batting telegrams is some anxiety turf speculators in London. Tli.-un prcs.sion was gleaned by a representative of a London paper in conversation wiu several members c t the fraternitv.

"If the Bi:I becomes law," remarked an influential member of the Beau fort, which is now recognised as the fading resort of the bookmaking world, "it wi 1 certainly put a stopper on betting, and it might be the death-kne.l of racing. Racing without betting would be like bread withI out butter. "

"Yes," interposed ahctlul' Beau fort member, a bookmaker who had not visited a racecourse for years, •'and it" wi'l rob us of our bread and butter. A third Beaufort member could not believe that Parliament would prohibit betting by telegram, and he made a suggestion by which the proposed law could be defeated. The only course open will be (he said) to send coded telegrams, which would baulk the teli-giaph nfticia.s. "Many business men telegraph by code, and we'll have to do it. It will give a lot of trouble, but it can b<- done. ' One member pointed out that the law would make an immense reduction in the Post Office revenue. It is estimated that 3000 telegrams are daily received at, or sent from the Beaufort. A further estimate gave it that from the >ight leading London sporting resorts 16,000 "wires" were sent or received each day.

Interviewed on the subject, a prom inent racehorse-owner said that the majority of his class conducted their speculations by wire. "Tliey are business men, and only dukes and lords can afford the time to visit racecourses. Many owners, attending to their private businesses, only visit the course two or three times a year, but they bet daily by telegram/'