Related article: did not fill at the first time of asking. The meeting just escaped the frost, and it was very satis- factory that the attendance sug- gested that the management did not suffer through its liberality. The big race did not present any international features, the French, for one thing, having plenty Order Ashwagandha of remunerative opportunities on their own side of the Channel. The appearance of Rampion was, of course, interesting, and he failed only in giving 22lbs. to Wales, who beat him by three- quarters of a length. On the whole, the field that ran did not inspire one with much enthusiasm in the cause of hurdle racing, for the class was poor indeed to run for 1,000 sovs. Frenoh Raoing— Bookmaker Y. Pari-Matuel.— Just when the vexed question of betting on race- courses has received a final settle- ment in England, without much apparent chance of Order Ashwagandha Online revival, it makes its appearance in France. In that country Ashwagandha Online the conditions under which racing is conducted differ in many important respects from those prevailing here ; but there is some analogy in the way the betting question has been raised on either side of the channel, inasmuch as, in each case, the opposition has been led by persons but little conversant with 'racing matters. Otherwise there is not much in common between the two movements, if the motive assigned for the action taken in France can be accepted as the true one. In England, public morality was what was fought for by the anti-gamblers ; in France, there is no mention of morality, which is supposed to be capable of looking after itself, the pecu- niary interests of the sport and municipal pocket being what it is sought to protect. It is not sought to suppress betting — only the bookmaker, who has plied his trade with success, in spite of the universal adoption of the pari- mutuel. The pari-mutuel is a very material source of income, and * the incontrovertible argument is that the bookmaker taps this. From every transaction done through the medium of the pari- mutuel a certain percentage is deducted, but Purchase Ashwagandha the bookmaker, of course, pays no percentage on his turnover. M. Chauvin, deputy of the Seine-et-Mame department, on these grounds, has drawn the attention of the Government to the breach of Buy Ashwagandha the Betting Law of 1 89 1, pleading that no less a sum than eighteen millions of francs, 290 BAILY S MAGAZINE. [Apwl from which the percentage would be deducted, is diverted. The Betting Act of 189 1 is plain enough in its text, for it prohibits, in the simplest language, the exploitation of betting in any form whatsoever on a racecourse. An exception was, however, made in favour of the pari-wutuel, the authorisation for the employment of which is revocable at any time at the hands of the Minister of Agriculture. Whether betting per bookmaker is allowed or disallowed on French racecourses might not appear to be a question of importance to us in England, but there is a good deal to be learnt by an investi- gation of the matter. Another analogy is to be found in the fact that in each case the Act is being applied in a way contrary to that intended by the framer of it. As in the case of the English Act, upon which the anti-gamblers founded their action, the French Act was framed to put down a certain class of betting, but has been applied to the detriment of another class. The betting which it was sought to put down was the ready-money system as prac- tised in English racecourse en- closures, backers depositing their stake with the bookmaker, and receiving tickets by way of ac- knowledgment of the transaction. It is confidently alleged that no intention whatever existed of interfering with the bookmaker betting with clients "on the nod," as we agree to term it ; but, in the text of the Act before me, I can only say that, if this was in the mind of the framer, then the wording is very carelessly done. It is not a little remarkable that, in both France and England, an Act dealing with the same matter should have been so carelessly drawn up as to lead to disagree- ableness years afterwards. Those who disagree with the suppression of the bookmaker in France rely upon the employment of the words " all comers " in the Act, as implying a person ready to bet with any one who had the money in his hand to deposit, and it is further argued that, was it the intention of the Act to suppress every kind of betting, save that of the part-mutual , then this inten- tion would have been expressly stated. What developments are in store, time will show ; for the present it is enough to know that the police are being enjoined to take energetic action. On the 14th ult., the Prefect of Police in Paris sent a telegram to the Commissaries of Police at Bou- logne, Saint-Ouen, Enghien, Vin- cennes, and Levallois - Perret, instructing them to take stringent measures Purchase Ashwagandha Online for the suppression, at the meetings about to take place in their districts, of betting in any other form than that of the pari- mutuel. Offenders were to be expelled from the course, and proceeded against by virtue of the Act of 1 891. I do not feel competent to say to what extent the police of France " wink the other eye " in Buy Ashwagandha Online cases of this kind. On the 12th ult., two days before the tele- graphic action of the Prefect of Police, I was present at the meet- ing held at Auteuil, and there the bookmaker was certainly plying his vocation. He was doing this in the small railed space at the back of the stand, and his atti- tude was remarkable for its lack of demonstrativeness. A good deal had already been said about the bookmaker and of the appli- cation of the Act of 1 89 1 to his particular case, so there was good cause for a subdued demeanour. Not a shout was heard, and here one gained a useful object lesson, for the business was transacted quite as well without the lung* J i8»3 "OUR VAN. »» 291