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RACING AS CONDUCTED IN AUSTRALIA Since racing is to be revived this year on several of the New York tracks it is of interest to con ¬ sider how the sM rt may be carried on without the evils which brought about its cessation in this state Tlie exi erlence of Australia in the matter is especially valuable valuableAustralia Australia and New Zealand comparatively small countries from the standpoint of population have shown an originality amounting to daring in matters of social regulation and governmental control of things left in most countries to individual Initia ¬ tive and in sport as in more serious matters have declined to follow too closely in the beaten rlit of timehonored tradition Those indispensable adjuncts of racing the numbered saddle cloth and the start ¬ ing gate were first seen in Australia before they were adopted throughout the racing world while Australian jockeys used the short stirrup though not to the exaggerated extent made popular by Tod Sloan when Isaac Murphy Fred Taral and Jimmy McLaiigldln were still riding desperate finishes on American stylePopular courses in the oldfashioned English style Popular supH rt Is accorded in no halfhearted fashion to all the big meetings held by the leading clubs in every one of the six states that comprise the commonwealth commonwealthAn An outline of the manner in which the Victoria Racing Club of Melbourne is managed will demon ¬ strate the way a governing Australian club is con ¬ ducted The V R C as it is inipularly known throughout Australia has a membership of between three and four thousand persons Any reputable citizen may become a member The annual meet ¬ ing of members of the club is held during the tirst week in August as the racing year in Australia dates from the first of that month The proceed ¬ ings that take place at the meeting are not always a formality The club is managed by a committee of twelve elected by ballot to serve without re ¬ muneration for one year yearA A member of the V R C pays an entrance fee of 2i yith annual dues of the same amount For this sum a member gets admission to about twenty days racing the principal meetings being four days in the spring four days in the autumn New Years day and three days In midwinter when racing over the jumps is held at which the Australian Grand National Steeplechase is run There is no separate Iwdy governing the jumping races as In England or America The member is also entitled to admission to any special meetings that may be held on the track trackThe The charge for admission to tlie grandstand on Australian race courses is 25O with an additional fee to the saddling paddock of 125 at big meetings and H cents for minor ones As the member goes into the saddling paddock also without charge it will be seen that he is getting his moneys worth In side the race course a member has the privilege of a separate carriage paddock for his carriage or auto ¬ mobile a separate dining room a large building comiwsed almost entirely of glass that resembles a conservatory in its arrangement of ferns and pot plants and a small enclosure near the betting ring occupied mainly as a smoking pavilioir There is no clubhouse or separate stand for members as in England and other countries countriesBetting Betting is conducted by bookmakers either for cash or on credit for which they are charged an annual license fee of 250 by the club The sub ¬ committee which drills with such matters takes care to satisfy itself of the responsibility of parties to whom the license is issued The bookmaking system is the only one that obtains in the two principal states of the commonwealth New South Wales and Victoria the parties opposed to the stat recognition of betting involved by the use oC the machines having hitherto succeeded in prevent ¬ ing the passage of the necessary legislation In the four Other states the machine is used though bookinaking is also allowed in some of them themTlie Tlie racing clubs of Australia have shown that limited racing of a high class can he made self supporting and can IM conducted iu such mamier as to give general satisfaction That it satisfies tlie public is evidenced by tlie support accorded it It is satisfactory to owners of horse as fields of from twenty to thirty starters are of ordinary occurrance on the Australian turf New York Times
