206 ON AND OFF THE TtlRF. 



he went down in his second heat and visions of 

 wealth vanished. I saw Myers put up a quarter 

 mile record on Sir Joseph Banks' grounds, and as 

 he had to run round a big field it was a great 

 performance. 



Some excitement was caused after one Carrington 

 Handicap. It was on Saturday night, the heats and 

 finals being run by electric light. A loud explosion 

 was heard when the racing was over and all was 

 quiet. On some of the directors of the grounds 

 proceeding to the spot it was found the safe had 

 been blown open and several hundred pounds been 

 abstracted. The curious part of the business was 

 that no trace of the thieves could be found, and 

 they were never discovered. All sorts of rumours 

 were afloat at the time, and the affair caused quite 

 a sensation. 



Foot-racing has almost died out, and mainly 

 through the fault of the runners. Many of these 

 men ran in the interests of bookmakers, and never 

 tried to win although heavily backed. The public 

 were fleeced in the most outrageous manner, and 

 eventually they declined to patronize the running 

 grounds. When sports of this description languish 

 it is generally the fault of the men engaged in 



them. 



Amateur athletic sports are not as well patronized 

 as they ought to be. More interest has, however, 



