AN EARLY COMPLAINT OF TOUTS 243 



institution, and the training reporter would appear 

 to occupy a position on the sporting press with the 

 other reporters, as a protest it is quite as much 

 needed now as it was then. One of my reasons for 

 holding this opinion will appear further on. How- 

 ever, this is what I wrote : 



1 " No one could possibly have less objection to a 

 fair criticism of the condition, &c., of race-horses 

 while in training than myself, so long as such 

 criticism is founded on information obtained in an 

 honourable and legitimate manner. But I do object, 

 and that strongly, to the present underhand system 

 of tampering with stable-boys, and also to the 

 personal espionage to which the trainer is subjected. 

 If the touts endeavoured to pump the apprentices 

 we should, I think, have a remedy ; but those 

 persons are quite wide-awake enough to keep on 

 the 'windy side of the law,' and confine themselves 

 to tampering only with those about the stables who 

 are under no legal obligation ' to keep the secret of 

 their masters.' A recent case (not the first by many) 

 has just come under my personal observation. Dur- 

 ing a temporary absence from home one of my 

 horses met with a slight accident in the stable ; the 

 first I heard of it was from an account which appeared 

 in two of the sporting papers. I was very much 

 puzzled how such an account found its way into 

 print, but the mystery was soon cleared up. On 

 my return I found that two of my boys had been 

 spending a pleasant hour or two at the house of 

 the tout who is correspondent of the two papers in 



r 2 



