a curse these tipsters and touts were amongst their stable lads. They attempted to suborn them and to bribe them to betray stable secrets. What were stable secrets after all? He considered that they were merely the fulfilment of his duty on the part of a trainer, whose business and desire was to keep his employers informed as to the progress and the wellbeing of their property committed to his care. Outsiders had no more right to try to obtain by illicit means information on these matters than a burglar had to break into a house and steal property. If these sporting newspapers denied that these tipsters obtained information by improper means he thought they would be on the horns of a dilemma. If they did not obtain this information by corrupt means he should like these sporting papers to explain why they accepted money from tipsters for advertisements which professedly did claim to obtain this information. “The alpha and omega of the tipster’s trade was misrepresentation. It was to their interests to say that all trainers were disloyal to their owners, and that jockeys pulled their horses. A friend of his this year out of curiosity subscribed to one of the most notorious of these tipsters. He wrote to say that he was not satisfied with the result, that he had expected some more reliable and exclusive information for his money, that he could not go on subscribing for such bad tips. The man replied with a long rigmarole to the effect that the horses had been fancied and backed by their owners, but that they raced most peculiarly, and added, ‘but what could they do when the jockeys who rode them would not let them show their true form.’ This tipster advertised largely; he had hundreds and probably thousands of clients, and if he had written in a similar strain to many of these foolish creatures, was it not easy to understand why small owners and trainers were made out to be rogues. I am sure,” said Lord Durham with emphasis, “there is not an honest man on the turf who will not agree that these tipsters and their circulars should be suppressed. I would commend the example of the _Truth_ newspaper, which for some years has most zealously denounced some of the most notorious of these wretches. I am certain I have made a speech which will not be very highly eulogised by the sporting press, but if I have on my side some of those honourable and straightforward sporting writers to whom I have alluded as being too few in number to counteract the evil of the majority, I will bear with equanimity any adverse criticism” (_Yorkshire Herald_, December 10, 1904). The following extracts from _Truth_, February 11, 1904, will serve to emphasise the accuracy of Lord Durham’s observations:— _Turf Tipsters, Betting Agents, and System-mongers_