TURF NOTES.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8992, 29 November 1907, Page 6

TURF NOTES.

(By Zetland.) The Feilding meeting, which will be the first racing fixture in the dominion to come under the provisions of the new Gaming and Lotteries Act, will open to-day. It will be interesting to learn how the totalisator revenue for the two days will compare with the amount recorded at last year's summer meeting, for it is now generally admitted that the bookmakers will com pete successfully against the machine, and unless the pencillers act on the side of caution and put a portion of their investments on the totalisator, the turnover oi the latter is sure to be prejudicially affected. As sporting writers are now precluded from giving their the merits of the various contestants, anything in the way of tips cannot be published. This interference with the liberty of the public has rightly been characterised by leading journals as exceedingly childish, and many of our legislators can hardly feel pleased with themselves for voting in favour of an Act which contains many discreditable clauses. From a racing point of view, the Feilding meeting should be distinctly successful. Good fields will be seen out in every event, and quality is egpecially well represented throughout. An Auckland racing man, commenting upon the licensing of bookmakers as laid down by the new Gaming Act, says:—"Clubs will resort to all legal means to prevent them from being admitted. If we are obliged to license them, then all I can say is, it will be a bad thing for racing. Respectable men are not going to give their time in order to provide a livelihood-for professional gamblers, and if thay are admitted, then .you can take it from me that more than one lead- J ing sportsman will retire. Sir George I Clifford will, I believe, be one. The ! effect on the Wellington Club may be serious. Forty thousand pounds was recently guaranteed by a number of Wellington gentlemen for improvements to the racecourse at Trentham. These guarantees were given on the understanding that the totalisator returns would amount to a certain sum, but through the admission of bookmakers the returns are likely to be seriously diminished." In an interview with a representative of the Weekly Press and Referee, Mr C. Lewis, M.H.R., stated , that Ministers roundly threatened I members that if they did not pass the bookmaking clauses of the Gaming Act, a bill would be introduced next session to abolish the totalisator, and this would be forced through by the exercise of every form of party pressure. They were assured most emphatically by the Premier and Mr Millar that unless the "bookie" clauses were passed the machine would be out of existence in less than a year. This practically explains why many members voted for clause 35, admitting bookmakers to racecourses, but very little courage of opinion was shown by the rank and file, who surely must have known that -sven Sir Joseph Ward would not have the audacity to move the abolishment of the totalisator. Surely he must know that racing is the leading sport of the dominion, and is supported by many thousands of people. The abolishing of the totalisator would be followed by the closing down of the majority of racing clubs, and this would be so much resentud by the public that Sir Joseph Ward and his party would quickly be put out of power.