IN THE RING. 47 



passed unnoticed by liira, and many a man hard np 

 has had cause to bless him. 



Mr. Oxenham has places of business in Sydney, 

 Melbourne, and Brisbane ; and in addition to his large 

 bookmaking transaction he now runs *^ sweeps/^ His 

 name is known throughout Australasia, and a cheque 

 signed Humphrey Oxenham would be accepted as 

 readily as coin of the realm. Mr. Oxenham's ramifi- 

 cations extend from Thursday Island on the one hand 

 to West Australia on the other, and all the interven- 

 ing territory is represented on his books. Even from 

 India, Fiji, and New Caledonia, money is sent for 

 him to invest. 



I have had opportunities of glancing over Mr. 

 Oxenham's books, and have noted *' books '' to the 

 amount of £100,000 on a single big race meeting. 

 Last year (1894) was a quiet year on account of the 

 depression, but on the Caulfield and Melbourne Cup 

 Meetings he had books to the extent of £63,000 open. 

 He laid £10,000 on the Caulfield Cup ; £15,000 the 

 Melbourne Cup ; £5,000 the Derby ; £10,000 the Two 

 Cups double ; £1 0,000 the Derby and Cup double ; 

 £10,000 the treble— two Cups and Derby ; £2,000 at 

 starting price; and £1,000 places : in all, £63,000. 



The year Malvolio won the Melbourne Cup (1891), 

 Mr. Oxenham lost £30,000 over the winner, and yet 

 he had such an enormous amount of money in his 

 book that he actually came out a winner on the race. 



