RACING REFORM. 329 



found betting " outside " should be promptly 

 handed over to the police to be punished as 

 rogues and vagabonds. A few sentences of sixty 

 days with hard labour would very speedily diminish 

 the regiment of welshers ; as for the unmitigated 

 rough, his fate should be that of the garroters — 

 twenty lashes ! It is somewhat remarkable that 

 in some districts welshers are promptly dealt with 

 by the authorities, while at other seats of sport 

 they escape all consequences ! 



In the interests of law and order on the turf, 

 the honest bookmaker should be licensed by the 

 Jockey Club, and by the exhibition of a blue 

 ribbon in his buttonhole, or some other mark of 

 identification, be able to present himself to those 

 desirous of betting as a person who would at 

 once pay whatever amount he bargained to lose. 

 These modes of dealing with the honest and 

 dishonest betting men are obviously logical ; at 

 any rate, the hints given afford a foundation for 

 action of the kind indicated, that it is surprising 

 they have not already been acted upon. 



The Jockey Club at the present time takes no 

 official cognisance of disputed bets, that part of 

 the business of racing being left to a committee 

 of Tattersall's ; but this inaction on the part of the 

 Club is a blunder. It will be well for them to 

 form a tribunal to deal with all disputes about 

 bets — a tribunal which would give a prompt and, 

 above all things, a logical decision, and so carry 

 on from precedent to precedent. The present 

 laws of betting are much in need of overhauling ; 

 indeed, to use an old phrase, they require "a new 

 stock, lock, and barrel." 



