The Sun.
London, England, 1870-06-11 00:00:00

AN AUTHORITY ON THE TURF.

Mr. Edmund Tattersall, a member of the well-
known firm of that name, is in the field on a subject
of which he at least, should have some knowledge.
➢Zr. Tattersall is of opinion that the English racehorse
of the present day is a better and faster animal than
he was fifty years ago. There is no doubt he is a bigger
and faster animal. As to the question of two-year-
old races, he says that he does not believe that early
training or early racing injures the horse either as a
race-horse or as the progenitor of race-horses, unless
carried to excess, which is exactly what the opponents
of two-year-old races say, and which is also true of
other things besides racing. On the subject of
betting this great authority says that we
are not so bad as we seem. Englishmen
love speculation, and horse-racing furnishes an outlet
for the superfluous energy which must be let off
somehow or other—in other words when we can't
get up a South Sea Bubble, and when Overend,
Gurneys, or insurance companies and swindling banks
are not to be had, why then we " plunge" on the turf
and get singed. ➢Tr. Tattersall has a scheme to turn
racing into a business. " Let five gentlemen each find
five friends, with £5OO or £l,OOO each, to put into a
racing company. This would represent a capital of
£12,500, or £25,000; half to be called up at once,
and the other as required, but half down to make it
bond fide. Let the five form a board, and appoint
three to manage the concern ; and I think I can put
them in a way to have a great deal of real amuse-
ment for their money, combined with a return. The
company is not to bet, but if any individual member
chosts to do so on his own account, that

would have nothing to do with the company."
Mr. Tattersall is sanguine as to the result. Perhaps
our old friend, Mr. Thomas Hughes, may be able to
deal with this part of the question in his next bill.

OPEN BOATS AT SEA

The recent deplorable• accidents at Hastings and
Ramsgate have naturally attracted a good deal of
attention to the dangers incurred by pleasure-seekers
in open boats at sea. As these disasters form 3
regular part of our summer mortality, it is certaioli
high time that we should investigate their causes/
and endeavour to ascertain the best means of
preventing their so frequent recurrence. Out
of the many suggestions now being made
on the subject, some are practical enough)
others very unlikely to be serviceable. One
correspondent cautions excursionists to beware of the
danger of sailing in an open boat with the wain
sheet made fast. Even the Deal boatmen never run
this risk. One of the boats' crew holds the sheet 01
the sail in his hand and the halliards are so fastened
that the least touch can bring the whole sail down
into the boat. When a sudden gust comes there is
no time to untie a rope, but plenty of time to let it
slip through the fingers. Another writer maintains
in reference to the Ramsgate accident that
party of eight should not have gone
out in a mere cockleboat without two competent
hands at least, and that each boat should be licensed
to carry so many, while no party should be allow

to sail with less than two men on board. Again/
it is proposed that the watermen's licenses should be
scrupulously revised, and that small boats should never
be allowed to ballast themselves with a material
which does not float. The recklesssness of the water"
men in inducing large parties of inexperienced per-
sons to go out in these small open boats in squally
weather is generally condemned, but, unhappily, it is
the sort of reckless folly that will always be corn'
mitted on the chance of a trifling gain on the one
side or an hour's diversion on the other.