SPORTING.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 91, 26 July 1910, Page 8

SPORTING.

Till'] TOTALISATOR QUESTION 1 ". At the annual meeting of the Egmont Racing Club on -Saturday the president said he thought the totaiisntor would be *Ji right for another year, or perhaps another two years. He did think that they would want to be careful and to nurse their funds. The president then alluded to Sir George Clifford's address at the Racing Conference, and said that regarding the bookmakers, when they were first legalised conditions wore drawn up by the conference as to what they considered right in the interests of both the racing clubs and the bookmakers. Among the conditions was one to the effect that bookmakers on applying for a license should deposit a sum of money or perfect a bond to that effect. All the regulations were submitted to the Minister, and among those crossed out was that particular clause, the Minister saying: "I'm not going to allow you people to discriminate.". The "night before last several members alluded to the same thing, and even the Ministers themselves. "We have had no option," said the speaker. "If you refused a license, the man you refused was marked as a black- : leg, and you were liable to be shot at." : The president said they wanted the opponents of the totalisator to know that ! there was nothing in their contention that the ■totailsator was responsible for jan enormous increase in racing. (iHear, hear.)

Mr. Davidson: Was it mentioned at the conference how much the Government had received from the racing clubs this year ? The president: We did not know exactly. It might 'be put down at about I £40,000. iMr. Davidson asked what about the question of stipendiary stewards. The president hoped that next year at the conference a motion would be carried in the'ir favor. RACING IN NEW ZEALAND. In the course of his speech in the House of Representatives on the racing question, the Prime Minister, Sir Josenfi Ward, quoted the following figures bearing on the number of totalizator permits issued and the .number of days' racing held during the past twenty-one years:—

Oyer the heading "Fifty Years Ago," Mr. John Corlett, in the Sporting Times, pens the following:—"Just fifty years' ago two famous sires entered the salering at Grimston, one of which was West Australian and the other Stockwell. West Australian was then looked upon as the best animal the turf had ever known, and by "many of the old school is thought so to thi9 day. When it became known that Lord Tjondesborough's stud, in which the two sires were, was to be sold without reserve, the French Government determined on securing West Australian, and Stockwell also if the money 'ran to it.' Fortunately Stockwell came into the ring first, or iboth these great sires would have been lost to this country. Mr. Navlor held on tenaciously to Stockwell, and, bidding 4500gns, defeated Count de Moray, who was holding himself in reserve for West Australian. He little thought he would 'be able to secure liiin for SOOOgns, or, having sufficient funds in hand, he would have goneon bidding for Stockwell. He was com- | missioned to give 10,000gns for the two, [but to make sure of West Australian. It was the Chester Cup victory of St. Albans, fresh in the minds of buyers, that caused the bidding to be so much more spirited for Stockwell than for the 'West,' though the latter could claim the winner of the Oaks of the previous year in Summerside. From these two sires, who were sold half a century back, Nei! Gow and Lemberg, the three-year-old cracks of the English turf, are descended. The West Australian blood, which it was feared we had lost, now comes to us through a - very by-channel. Mr. St. , George, an Irish gentleman, owned a Birdcatcher mare that was sent to West Australian a few months before the French bought him, and the result was Solon. It is from this horse, through Barcaldine and Marco, that Neil. Gow is descended. Solon ran twice in Ireland at two years of age without winning. Improving as he went on, when he was three years old he won eight races out of twelve. He must have been a hardy sort of horse, seeing that he ran four races in two days, winning three and running second for the other. At four years of age he won two races on the Curragh; but was well beaten with Bst 21ib on his back in the Cesarewitch won by Salpinetes. This was his last race, and it scarcely looked as though it would be through him that the great line of West Australian would be perpetuated in this country."

A Christchurch wire states tliat, King Hippo was scratched for all engagements at the Grand National meeting at 2.55 p.m. yesterday. A Melbourne cable states that Ataahua has broken down, and will not start at the Australian Steeplechase meeting.

Totaliaator Racing Year. Permits. Days. 1889-90 .. 187 241 1890-91 .. 219 278 1891-92 .. 234 300 1892-93 .. ...... 240 307 1893-94 .. 247 318 1894-95 .. 207 268 1895-96 .. 170 256 1896-97 .. 158 250 1897-98 .. 155 268 1898-99 .. 144 250 1899-00 .. 154 278 1900-01 .. 1>53 278 1901-02 .. 30.9 1902-03 .. 148 276 1903-04 .. 151 282 1904-05 .. 156 294 1905-06 .. 158 288 1906-07 .. 159 303 1907-08 .. 152 292 1908-09 .. 157 307 1909-10 .. 167 323