BACKERS SHOULD DO THEIR OWN COMMISSIONS. 257 



one, takes less than the fair market odds, or refuses to give 

 his employer what he, or others for him, may have taken, 

 he should, in Hke manner, be held responsible for such acts. 

 Moreover, he should be held accountable for bets taken, if 

 those he has had reason to suspect might not meet their en- 

 gagements, should fail to pay up. Again, it should be made 

 a sine qua non that all bets be given in daily as they are 

 made until the commission is executed. Were betting 

 legalised, we should strike a deadly blow at the root of this 

 evil. But till this is done, the commission agent, who acts in 

 a suspicious way,should be called before the committee at 

 Tattersall's, when the charge preferred should be rigorously 

 investigated ; and if substantial proof of dishonesty be ad- 

 duced, let restitution be made to the last farthing, or proclaim 

 such a one a defaulter, and no longer allow him to associate 

 with his honest confreres. 



The fortunes that these men make without a guinea in the 

 world, or the no2is to make one except as racing commis- 

 sioners, may well make one wonder. But I think an explana- 

 tion will be found in what has been said. This gentry, 

 starting with a book and pencil as thi. .• whole stock-in-trade, 

 suddenly emerge from obscurity as the possessors of thou- 

 sands — and how } Simply by betraying the confidence 

 reposed in them by their patrons, whom they soon outvie 

 in everything, save manners, honesty, and honour. 



There is an easy remedy. Gentlemen should make their 

 own bets, or find some one of their own class to do so for 

 them. But if they do neither of these, then let them, as a 

 saving clause, declare at the outset the price they will take, 

 and be satisfied with nothing less. By this simple method, 

 the owner of a horse may get what he is entitled to and 

 may reasonably expect. It is but the application of 



