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PARi-MUTDELS IN IRELAND Experiment to Be Made With Machines Tending to Adoption. Proposition Offered to License Bookmakers and Have Them Compete for the "Wagering. . . Writing in the Sportsman of recent date. Blackthorn lias to say of the question of pari-mutuels in Ireland: There is no doubt that sooner or later the pari-mutuels will be set upon our race course, arid because every one recognizes that such is the case, considerable interest is taken in the views expressed at the" meeting of the Irish Provincial Race Executives association, held in Dublin this -week. The discussion as to the pari-mutuels was initiated by a motion to consider its suitability at our race meetings. The meeting decided that the best way to deal with the subject was to direct their committee to make inquiries into the working of the system, having regard to the especial character of our racing, the committee to make its report to the next general meeting, Avhich will be held in the near future. Colonel MacCabe, -who is managing director of the Mallow Race Company, and delegate for that meeting to the association, is nothing if not enterprising and resourceful. He said that at Mallow it was his idea to set up experimently the pari-mutuel system for double events, and that if the result was satisfactory he -would start the full system as at continental meetings. Mallow has thus given the lead, and the outcome of its experiment will be watched with interest I know there is a large section of opinion that says it would not be possible to run tho pari-mutuel at small meetings ; that the cost of setting up and operating it would wipe out all profit, if not, indeed, incur a debt At Mallow the attendances are not small ; on the contrary, they are very large, so that the County Cork fixture cannot provide the answer to the question as to whether it is possible to run the betting machine with a profit at little meetings. Colonel MacCabes statement is interesting from more aspects than one. I wonder how the bookmakers will take the fact that they will be in competition with the machine, although, of course, as Colonel MacCabe points out, the machine will at the outset deal with double events only. "This and the next," I suppose will be its manner of betting; but the bookmakers will be cognizant that the double event trial of the machine is experimental, to lead, if satisfactory, to its use in connection with single events. TO LICENSE BOOKMAKERS. A leading owner trainer who is also a director of several race companies, discussed with me recently the pari-mutuel, and he agreed that it ought to be introduced. His agreement with me as to its desirability prompted me to suggest that there was no timo like the present, but his reply was: "I think it would be well to defer any consideration of it for a few years." Anxious to know his views still further 7 said: "How would you manage about the bookmakers? Would it riot be unfair to wipe them out of existence by giving the whole field to the pari-mutuel ; because if you are not giving the whole field to the pari-mutuel, but allowing bookmakers to compete with it, the machine will be handicapped from the outset." "My suggestion," said my friend, "would be to license the existing number of bookmakers, requiring them to pay a tax annually, no man not engaged in bookmaking for a certain number of years to be qualified to pay license. By the process of elimination over the number of years the book-making fraternity would be extinguished ; that would be my solution of the difficulty you raise." The suggestion looks feasible enough at first blush, but I am afraid that when we come down to the definition of what is a bookmaker, the trouble would only begin. Men running starting-price offices are a not inconsiderable number, and how to deal with them is, I think, a bit of a proposition.
