Evening Post. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1907.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIV, Issue 125, 22 November 1907, Page 6

Evening Post. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1907.

THE PROGRESS OF THE GAMING BILL. «»' The progress made by tho House of Representatives with the Gaming and Lotteries Act Amendment Bill is a sufficient answer to those critics who have found in tho measure little more than a proof of the Premier's insincerity. The measure is so comprehensive in its scope and its introduction was delayed bo long that \vo have- never supposed that it would have much chance of passing in its entirety, and the unfoitunate disagreement with regard to tho procedure I of the Select Committee- to which tho Bill was referred fuithcr impaired its prospects. Jfesterday's proceedings j were, however, on tho whole, laudably i free from the acrimony which that misunderstanding had threatened, and tho btnbborn opposition which the Bill encountered was not more than might have been reasonably expected in the rase of such a measure under the most favourable conditions.' It is also inI tores! ing to note that, though the progress of the measiuc would have been graiUy facilitated by tho dropping of all the clauses included under tho heading "Iliao Meetings,"' i>ne of the most valuable and." most urgently-needed clauses in the less controversial parts of the Bill encountered a prolonged and alnio&t successful opposition. Wo refer, of course, to clause 10, which, by reducing the penalty for keeping a gaming house and other similar oifences to imprisonment for a period not exceeding three months, keeps these cases within tho jurisdiction of a magistrate instead of giving tho accused his present option of going before a jury. After all the scandalous failures on the pait of juries to do .justice in this class of ici-srs, we are amazed that anybody I who has not something other than the I public welfare in view can bo prepared to. lake tljfl coAiionsibilitv. of continuing

the system, but that there are many members of the House in this position was clearly proved by the speaking and the voting yesterday. Logically, the only objection to which the clauso was open was that three months is too short a term of imprisonment for the gravity of the offences in question'; practically the issuo was whether the-so offences should be punished at all. Yet such men as the Leader of the Opposition and his first lieutenant, Mr. Her- \ vies, gave their support to an amendment which would have given permaI nence to the scandals of the presentsystem — scandals, by the way, for which the door was opened by the i Legislature in sheer' inadvertence a few years ago. Everybody who does not desire to see in this country the extension of the American principle which invokes an "unwritten law" to override ! the statute law of the land whenevei the provisions of the latter allow a criminal no other loophole of escape, should be thankful that, by majorities of 28 votes to 24 ■ and 31 votes to 22, the Government succeeded in defeating the amendments calculated to effect this object. ; The disproportionate amount of time wasted upon this clauso was compensated by the readiness with which the House accepted tho most diastic provisions of the Bill. The "quarantine clauses," which a year or two ago would have been scouted as a quite intolerable invasion of our liberties, were accepted en bloc with hardly a murmur, and without any attempts at hostile amendment, except on tho part of those who raised once more the, issue of trial by jury with regard to one of tho least drastic of the clauses. Tho experience of New South Wales and Victoria is accepted on all hands as a sufficient guarantee that the powers of closing gambling hells which these clauses provide are safe and efficient, and even if the Bill contained no other provisions, the country would bo entitled to congratulations upon its passing. The bookmaker who plies his calling in the street received, as was to be expectpd, no sympathy from any part of the House ; and the clauses which expose him to three months' imprisonment if he continues this practice, and also to the liability to refund any moneys so .obtained, ' passed without challenge. Clause 31, which as originally introduced proposed to prohibit tho publication of any .advertisement or notification as to betting on any horse race about to be run, or as to investments on the totalisator in respeci of any such race, had been marked from the first as likely to be fiercely contested. ' But contrary to expectation its scope has merely been extended at each scagc. The Select Committee rerommendpcl , the inclusion in the prohibition of "any information, advice, or suggestion as to the probable result of any such race" and also of any statement as to the dividends paid on lotalisator investments ; and not only were, these amendments adopted by the House yesterday, but another was added on tho Premier's motion to prohibit the publication of "starting prices." Very illogically the publication of the results of any Tattersall's consultation or other lottery was not put on the same footing, as totalisatpr dividends. Sir. Remington's attack on the totalisator fortunately failed, for it would have meant the killing, as the Premier said, not only of the totalisator, but of the Bill ; and by tho hour of 3.30 this morning even the most dubious part of the Bill— that relating tp ths licensing of the bookmakers — had passed. The Premier may bo congratulated upon a Parliamcntaiy feat which Mr. Seddon himself has not often surpassed ; and critics who have declared that Sir Joseph Ward has not his team well in hand will need to revise their judgment. THE RAILWAY MEN. Wo have urged on previous occasions when tho question of reducing railway freights came up for discussion, that the Government would not be justified in making any concessions to the public while the railway employees were underpaid; and to-day it seems clear that the concessions which have been made have been at tho employees' expense. What would tho Arbitration Court say to a. private employer who proceeded in this fashion? Its answer would be that he could raise his prices or shut up shop, as necessity or convenience might prescribe, but that his first duty, if he carried out business at all, was to' pay fair wagss. It seems to us that the country should insist upon its Railway Department satisfying exactly the same conditions which the Arbitration Court would enforce on any ordinary firm of carriers. There is indeed an obvious reason why tha Railway Department should be treated not less but more sLrictly than ;i private firm in this matter. The enormous scope of the department's operations and the thousands of lives winch are staked upon their successful execution, every day make it of the utmost moment that there shall be no sweating in the service, but that both the pay and the hours shall be such as to attract competent men, and to keep them fit for" their work. No philanthropy is needed to support this position, for oven the most heartless of men will be driven by a purely selfish regard for his own safely to take it up. Tho "salus populi," which in this case means literally the public safety, presciibes tho condition above mentioned as the primary essential of any railway service, public or private. If then railway finance is j unequal to the task of paying fair wages, not acquiescence in such a state of things, but a readjustment of rates, is a plain necessity. As for the men, they have themselves to blame in v, measure, seeing that they have never preferred a united demand for tho remedy that woidd put their rights upon a stable footing. In ordinary employments, as we have said^ the Arbitration Court is the safeguard whicU prevents wages from being reduced to suit the supposed requirements of business or °the- pressing demands of customers for .1 cheaper article. If the railway service were brought under the Arbitiation Act, tho employees would be suro of fair wages, and would also become froc men. The marul of their discontent ttith tho piovisions of the Railways Classification Bill now before Parliament is th-preforo obvious. Let them agitate for the benefits of the Arbitration Act, and thus secure an escape I'iom the stereotyped hardships of a classification .scheme to an elastic procedure which can adjust grievances as they aviso from time to time upon their merits. In such a. demand the railway serr<ints would be so sur>3 of a sympathetic backing from public opinion that failure would be out of the question, but we do not see how thoy can reasonably expect ever to score n permanent success while they endeavour to combine « general acquiesicenco in tho present system with , spasmodic indignation against its inevitable fruits. As lor the higher grade ollicers, whose grievances also appeaT h> have a solid basis, their pay and treatment might surclv bo brought into line with those provided for their .fellows in the Post and Telegraph service, 'ilteir work is at least equally important and equally exact in<r, ami tho Premier himself conceded the demand, for equality of treatment to be just when he set out to prove that tho one hebeme va* as good as the other. Now that his argument has broken down, it hectm incumbent upon him to establish the equality which clearly docs .not exist at ureienl!