The English Turf.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume X, Issue 3236, 21 June 1889, Page 2

The English Turf.

I ~ 1 Hero is a queer hind of a world • which has suddenly arisen I Faith i and trust aro banished j real honest) is unknown; purity is less than a 1 name; manliness means no more than a certain readiness to use the i fists. Most of the dwellers in this 1 atmosphere are punctillious about 1 money payments because they durst not be otherwise, but the fine flower of real probity does not flourish in the mepbitic air, To lie, to dodge, to take mean advantages—these are the accomplishments which an ugly percentage of middle-class youths cultivate; and all the mischief arises from the. faot that thoy persist in trying to ape the maimers of the most unworthy members of an order to which they do not belong. It is bad enough when a rich and idle man is bitten with the taste for betting; but when he is imitated by the tailor's assistant who carries his clothes home, then we havo a still more unpleasant phenomenon' to consider. For it is fatal to a nation when a largo and influential section of the - populace once begin to he confused in their notions of right and wrong. Not long ago I was struck by noticing a significant instance of this moral dry rot, An old racing man; died, and all the sporting, papers had something to say about him and his career. Now •the best of sporting journalists are clever and cultured gentlemen, who givo refinement to every subject that they touch. But a certain kind of writing is done by pariahs, who are not much of a credit to our' society, and 1 was interested by the style in which tlieso scribbling vermin spoke 1 of the dead man. Their gush was,a trifle nauseating; their mean worship of money gave One a shiver, and tho relish with which they described their hero's exploits would have been comjo hut for the afore-pientioned nausea. It seemed that the aforementioned turfite had been—to use blunt English—a very.skilful and successful swindler, Ho would buy a horse which tools his fancy, and then would run the animal, again and again, until people got tired of seeiug such J i useless bruto taken , down to the j starting point. ; . The handicappers anally let the schemer's horse in at a f ,rifling weighty and then he prepared { or business, . He had trustworthy igents at Manchester,' Nottingham, i ,nd Newcastle, gand these men ion- ) rived, without rousing suspicion, to 8 ' dribble " money into the market in . .stealthy way, until the whole of heir ; commission " ' was worked oii a ery.advantageous temis, The arcli P lotter,; did not' show prominently: iii J ho transaction, and : he 'pcfntriyiid t] nee or. twice to tiirow flupt in the oi yes of the yery cieyeresfc men. -One f r, two neatly arranged;'';strokes '■ icured our; acute'gentleman a .hand- a ; )me fortune. He .missed £70,000 jiice by a short head, but this nvas d le only, instance-in: which his plans iriousiy failed, and , he< was looked - 5 to us an epjtome of {til the virtues j" liich.are most acceptable m'racing »lw, Weil, kl (Ins dotigei [ e

lexhibited tho heroism of.Gordon, J .the,> ; ,; I benevolence of LordShaftesbnry, : tho,,:. | probity of Henry Fawcettj he could I not • have *been more.'bepraisiid: end s ., bewailed by 'the small fry.'; of. snorting,■ 'literature. All hejifid done in*life i was : to'deceive ipeople them, feiioy. that certain goodhdflp ; were badones;. atriotly speaking™ made money- by false pretouoe.s, ; and vi .: had been a saint :of the '.most.ftdmir' ~ ... i able order. This: dispositioniSi.seon tVj all through tho piece; successful , i roguery is-;glorified,' ; and our young,:., ~ men admire ■" tho Colonol " ofc" the - Captain," or Jack; This >and Tom - That, merely bcoause the Capi&in and; .■ , the Colonel and' Jack and Tom are' acute rascals /who mado'money, j Decidedly; our national ideals.-are/in ■- a queer way, Just think of a little i transaction '-which occurred in?-IBB7i ! 5. IA noble- lord -ordered a rmiso'rabla. i jockey boy to pull animal might lose a 'raoe. exalted guide of-youthwas found cLy? and deservedly paoked off the turf;' but it: was only by.an aocidentithat . r;. the stewards were able to catch bim. That legislator had funny notions of tho duty which ho owed to boyhood, - He asked his poor little satellite to--play the: scoundrel, and ho only.: did .what scores do who are'not found..; ,: out. ' A haze hangs abouttheturfjjpd., - all the principals which should guide human e nature: are.v.,-blurred and-. distorted; the high-minded honor-, ableraorog men cando nothing, 'or ; next to nothing, and the soum work-. their will in only too mqny instances,v , Everyone knows that THE GROUND IS PALPITATING COKRUPTION,but our national mental disease.has--so gained ground that some regard-:.a; corruption in a "lazy.: way; as beir.g m inevitable, while others—including I the Btay-at-liome-horse-racers, reckon . - it as absolutely admirable. Some years' ago a pretty little . - marewaVwinnigtheSt, Leger easily,). ■ wheita big horse cut into her heeUvL' knocked her oyer, About afterwards, the same wiry little mare ' was running iii an important' race at Nowm'arket, aud at the Bushes she was hauling her jockey out of the - saddle. There were riot many spfecta- i ;: tors about, and only a few noticed that,; while the mare was '; fighting for her. head, sho was suddenly pulled until she reared up, loj^tot, place, and reached the seventh in a large field. The jockey who rodo the mare, and who made her exhibit circus gambols, received - a thousand pounds from the owner ■ • of tho winning liors6. Now, there was no disguise about: this transaction—nay, it was rather advertised-; than otherwise, and a good many oj the sporting prints took it quite as a matter' of. course. Why ? Simply because no prominent racing man raked up tho matter -judically, ■ and because the ordinary turf . scramblers accept, suspicious pro* , ceedings as part of their environment,', Mr Carlyle mourned over the deadly '!. virus of lying which was emitted by Loyola a.nd his crew"; he might . mourn now over tliQ.-deadly virus of' cheating which is emitted from the central ganglia of the turf. The .. . upright men who v love horses and; ' raoin'g are nearly the thieves leave the-country, arid tlrey liavo reduced what : was once the finest middle-class in tho woiiktb -a condition of stark putridity.—-wanes Runciman in the Contemporary.

Heroism ot an English Lady. Everybody in Constantinople is talking about the heroism of Lady White, wife of tho British Ambassador, She had been suffering from an internal tumor, for the removal of which Dr Sarell declared a dangerous operation to be necessary. Without consulting her husband or anyone else, Lady White determined to undergo the operation, but in order not to disturb the carnival festivities, in which the English Embassy has this year taken a leading part, she said nothing of her intention to her husband, but quietly put all her affairs in order, made her will, and appeared cheerful and hospitablo as usual as the- presiding spirit at the Embassy ball, which took place oil •" the last night of the carnival. Thenext day Peril society .was startled by . the announcement that Lady "White was lying dangerously ill. This was : all 'that- was allowed to be made, known, but the operation Wkifien performed, whether successwKnot :' was still a subject of doubt ™the doctors attending her ladyship, ■ For • three dayj she lay between life and death. Oirthe fourth she was declared to be out of danger, and then tho truth leaked out. The admiration excited by Lady White's'" stoical courage is unbounded among '. people of all classes and nationalities in the Turkish capital.

How Gasparmi Escaped- 1 This is' the true story—the Sydnoy 1 i Bulletin avers—of the escape of 1 aaspariiii, the New Caledonian .eon* - yict, from the custody of the New Zealand police last year. At the ' time , when the Italian was under arrest in Wellington, N.Z„ and handed over to the French Consul to be sent to Sydnoy en route for Now. Caledonia, there was another Italian ■ in the city exhibiting a performing bear, This sliowman, having been present at a meeting of his comwho sympathised with the ex-conviot, he agreed for a Sum of money to rescue Gasparini from the grasp of the extradition lawjpd give him ; his liberty. the steamer left Wellington ivith the detective and his charge on board, i the showman and his bear wero also m passengers, On the way tlie Mast* killed tho animal, and on' redjßH Sydnoy Gasparini went ashon ing and gambolling in the SliPi the deceased Ursa Major, and waa shown in the streets of Sydney for wcelts afterwards in his new role to '■■■?' the mutual profit of : hinii^iM-~ v & benefactor, t ■' v

It in reported , that Signor Bernacchi ' has purchased Maria Wand (Tasmania) and that ho goes to England to float s ■ ' company to extend the operations of'. '> fruit and vino glowing. Our flanuols whether of, English or * Colonial Manufacture arc all pure • wool ■ froms the best looms. The manufacturers <'• • have a well-carned reputatiop'tomaintain rtnd our own prestige has been'won by Belling- ' : : ™ ftpst goods at thcJopst possib e prices. - Wo have no liking tor lirabbish"'of any " • : sort, least of all in Flannel's.' o ffi r • nothing but what is of sterling value at 'Te *■ ■ • iro House, Wellington;:: ■ ' Wo havo an oxtetißiye rangelfc.EneM "" ind Colonial Manufacture," at' : : ', : : . irices unaffected .by tho'enomous' Incrtasa- '•••«.' 1 «!?. latter regardless ot the.-'-: •' idyance that Cotoipl maker? have put on heir prqduptions;" In t #d, w shalliellA iur Flannels of all; makers for last-years -v 1 irices at Wellington, , .. "KoDOHOffKkw " • * • Oloavs out rats, mipe, .nts, beg -bugs, beetles, niaecWMskiiiilfJl 1 ack-rabbitj, sparrows, gophom.\ 4 . hemists anddrutmsts. "< ( v<-' 1 «o oil nbr'grtaso'.. ? 'AToniQß«P(h^ l:!l «;.£ tops ;fe loomingi &VV