THE DAKK SIDE OF THE MELBOURNE CUP OF 1883.

Inangahua Times, Volume VIII, Issue 1317, 31 October 1883, Page 2

THE DAKK SIDE OF THE MELBOURNE CUP OF 1883.

♦ - ("Warrior " in the Otago Times.) This day four, weeks the groat racing event south of the Line takes place. At this very moment thousands and thousands of people are preparing for the carnival. Many homes that are now comfortable will after the Cup, be desolated. How many lives have been sacrified through intemperate betting! and how many " knowing ones" and fortunate fools have been sent to the lunaiic asylums through through winning money on sweeps and Derby and Cup winners! As regards the ill effects of horse-racing, I, as a turf scribe, can safely assure my readers there is no harm whatever. It's the surroundings we have to avoid, of which I will presently speak. When Flying Buck won the Champion Eace in 1859 book-making was scarcely known, and very few wagers were made; the public visited Flemiugton for one purpose only, namely, to witness a trial of h rse flesh. It was call him Tasmanian —tout advertised a sweep on the Melbourne Cup (I think

. u_ t^f— = ~ it was Tim Whiffles year), which i filled up splendidly; but when the 8 race was won the tout of 1863 was 1 nowhere to be found, and the winners t and losers shook hands with one an- ( other. Since that time the sweep t business haß been flourishing, and the t tout who swindled in those days has 1 changed his dickey and become a ] Becky Sharp: old customer. In. fact , i many Victorians put him down as the i Herald detective, who has be*?n speak- , < ing very plainly about." Bogus swefrp i promoters" "of late, , Thanks : to the , 1 Melbourne Evening .Herald ! no leps ( than twelve sweep frauds Jbave in-^n i exposed, most of whom have advertised i irT Sydney, Queensland,, South , Aus- i tralian', Tasmanian, and New ' papers. The following promoters 6f I sweeps', have, in a series of. articles, i commenced in the Herald on the 4«h i September and finished on the 4th of ! October, been catching it pretty warm :. -i —Fraud No. 1, Orient, £20,000, sweep j i fraud No. 2, Australasia, £3000 (a moderate sum) j fraud No. 3, Bonanza, £7500 ; fraita Noi 4, The Melbourne Turf Club, £20,006 (very hot members) ; fraud No. 5V Archilles, £ 1 2,000, (pretty moderate for a new chum); fraud No. 6, Victory ,'£lP,ooo (not bad for a fish hawker)'; fraWNo. 7, Albion, £2000; fraud No/ 8, araquita, £25, 000 (wouldn't he like to get the cash and . be off like the New Zealand barber 1) ; fraud No. 9, Diamond,' £10,000 (first cousin to Mr Cut Diamond),; .fraud No. 10, The Melbourne Sweep-Com-pany, £10,000 (everv prospect of paying* a dividend of " 'Sis 6d in the pound); fraud No. ,11, Victorian Constil4tjon,.;£l 0,000 (or £2000 for ss; dwVyou 'wish' you may get iM) ■;'..' and, last pf all,' fto. 1 2 fraud, Progress, £6000. l ' Here %e have the proprietors of an evening journal performing tho ; arduous task of unfolding the cha^acterb of twelve individuals who wish to play on the public to the nice tune 'of £18.55, 500. The detectives have in the past been fest asleep, so the press of Australia has one and all called upon the authorities to bring in a bill this session "'of. Parliament to prevent any further sweeps being carried on in the colony! 1 would r< commend my horse-racing . friends in New Zealand to keep their spare cash at home, and if they should feel inclined to chance their luck in sweeps do so by all means, bu' not wi li parties outside of their colony. Leji some respectable company start a mon- • ster sweepof £40,000 or £50,000 on the Melbourne Cup, either at Dunedin or Christchurch, and then you will be certain how your money goes ; but as it is now, in the whole of the colonies, you don't know a sweep promoter from a crow. I can assure Hhe people of Dunedin and Christchurch that " Warrior " has no desire to do anyone any harm, but to speak the truth. Let any sane person read the achievements of these "bogus sweep promoters " and say that they are not "crooked." I have watched the progress of racing in Victoria since a youth, and with what results'! The blood of racers has improved, and so have the morals of some of those people who earn their living by horseracing. How many members of the , Australasian bookmaking ring can boast of having received a college education, or done a hard day's graft, or j sold fish and rabbits in the suburbs of Melbourne or Sydney? How many of the now flourishing bookmakers rose from a mere shoe-black, three-card-mah, three-up-man, or a vendor of lemonade and oranges? And how many of ■them can speak the Queen's English without murdering the .." h's" j and ««Vsr"? "H'iro hopen to-day." I Bookmaking, like the- sweep business, : has of late been overdone. . Mush- i rooms < are cropping up every day. : You need only require a gdod suit of . togs, a brass coutenance, and plenty of '■jabber) and you are'sure tor. get on; in the bookmaking lifie. ? -Of the members of' -Tattersalls are ; to be I trusted to any amount, but there are' black sheep even among [them. " As- j ,sume a virtue if you nave it. not. "| The totalisator companies are i getting { as thick as gooseberries, something! oyer. £2o,ooo having been subscribed ' for the Caultield and Melbourne' CupV; These are had enough, but I prefer them and the , welshers and tinpot , bpokmakersto the owners of. 'J bogus sweeps." I reckon that" between ( the wagers made with the ring,' instalments ; on sweeps and totalisatqrs, the resu t of the Melbourne Cup of 1883 will be an expenditure of three-quarters of a million of money