MONUMENT TO MENTAL TORPOR

NZ Truth, Issue 1145, 10 November 1927, Page 1

MONUMENT TO MENTAL TORPOR

Question of Time

THE Sergeant (m crossexamining a witness) : 1 • How long did that take? ' ' Witness: "Oh, half a second or a couple of mm

utes."

Explicit, all right!

AND of them all the most ■ ludicrous, the most unpopular and most irrational measure Is the Gaming Act which has been responsible for more public irritation and downright injustice than all the other laws put together. Christchurch has provided some striking examples of the \ ridiculous anomalies provided by this eftete legislation m the past, and once again the utter farce of the gaming laws of this Dominion has been staged m the Magistrate's Court, the number of prosecutions' dealt with recently emphasizing the imperative need for sweeping rei'orms and the scrapping of the present Act. On more than one occasion during the past twelve months the unfairness of the gaming legislation, and the ruthless, arbitrary powers conferred upon the ' police, have been brought home with telling force, to the/ public mind.

The Gaming Act m its present form is an affront to the common sense of the people and a, disgrace to the Government that fosters it, and for that reason "N.Z. Truth," m the public interest, .calls upon the Prime Minister and his Government to get down to hard, facts and deal- with the whole question from a rational standpoint. Instead of wasting time on piffling legislation it is up to Gordon Coates to tackle the Gaming Act without delay, and thus prove to the country that he is m reality and not mere theory "the man who gets things done."

3,' he latest attack of what, for want or a better term may be called

Arbitrary Measure Must Be Wiped Statute Book

(From "N.Z. Truth's" Special Christchurch Representative.)

That Off

Judged on a population basis, New Zealand is one of the most law-ridden countries on earth. The Statute Book of this Dominion is loaded with laws, good, bad and indifferent. .. The majority of them are necessary and indispensable, but there are many others m their present forms which are not only iniquitous and unjust, but ludicrous — monuments to the mental torpor and ineptitude of Governments past and present.

"Gamingitis," which smote the police m Christchurch last week assumed some peculiar symptoms which were purely of an illusionary nature. For illusions some of them proved to be. • ■ For example there was the illusion m the official mind that a euchre tournament was a game of chance, and also the further illusion that the publication of the photograph of a motorcar number m a newspaper with a prize. of oil or spirit for the owner of the lucky car constituted a "stunt" decided by chance, and therefore contrary to the provisions of the Gaming Act. Magistrate Mosley applied a wealth of common sense m deciding the issue and disabused the minds of the police that the Act. had- -been infringed. ' The dismissal of these charges was the only logical course he could have taken, and the S-3VoC. did not hesitate to take it. But there were other prosecutions which earned convictions, and it was established beyond all doubt m certain cases that to run a Christmas hamper raffle for the purpose of providing necessitous children with a Christmas treat is a crime against the'* 1 Gaming Act, punishable on conviction. There was a case m which eleven 1 > L_.

"Thou Shalt Not"

ladies of Prebbleton were charged with conducting such a scheme, and m their case decision was reserved. But other similar cases which followed were 'dealt with, the defendants being convicted and ordered to pay costs. Not only were convictions entered, but opportunity was taken by the police of drawing public attention to the fact that all such schemes, whether run. m the sweet name of charity or not, constitute offences against the Act and that they will .have to stop. This warning was supported by the magistrate, who remarked: "Theso hampers (drawn for) were used for charitable purposes, and we all admire very much ■ the worthy object of the schemes, though we may deplore the methods employed. "I take, it that the newspapers will make it known that schemes of this sort are breaches of the Gaming Act. These things assume tremendous proportions — outrageous proportions 1 — after a while. "The Minister had to close down on the huge art unions, and rightly so, too, for a very great deal of money was used." No one will cavil at these observations made by the magistrate, who Sts on the bench to administer the law as he finds it. , "N.Z. Truth" has no intention either of criticizing the"police> who, after all, are doing no more than their duty m prosecuting m obvious cases where the law has been violated— no matter for what purpose or how innocently. This notwithstanding, it is a remarkable circumstance that the Christchurch police officials should only recently have awakened to the fact that

A Public Scandal

Christmas hamper raffles are illegal, for the practice has- been going on openly for years past, not only m the southern city but m every town and township m the country. However, the fact which has been clearly established remains; such raffles are illegal, and so far as Christchurch is concerned the police intend to prosecute m all such' cases. What this means will readily be seen. Hundreds of church bazaars throughout the country will have a pi'oliflc source of revenue cut short; it will be impossible without infringing the law to raffle anything anywhere or at any time, and m consequence hundreds of children who have hitherto enjoyed a treat at Christmas time 'stand a good chance of going without their innocent joy m future. . „ And all because , the Gaming Act says: "Thou shalt not." ; The sooner such a pin-pricking provision is erased from the Statute Book the better. <, Whether it is the law or not, no reasonable-minded man or woman grudges a shilling or a sixpence for a sporting chance of winning a Christmas hamper, especially when he knows that the proceeds from the sale of tickets are going to be expended on a ' treat for innocent infants 'and young children.

Not by- .the widest stretch of the imagination can it be argued that such raffles m any way "constitute a menace to public morality." Such schemes are m themselves perfectly harmless and wholly worthy, and it is little short of a public scandal that such- legislation should be thus allowed to menace the reasonable liberty of the subject. /

So much for raffles m the sweet name of charity. . But the Gaming Act is all-embrac-ing: ancl arbit2'az-y. For example, the police prosecution against a man named Britten, who was called upon to answer a charge of having used the Sydenham Football Hall as a gambling house, further illu'strates\the extreme lengths to which the Act entitles the police to go.

Magistrate's View

ning euchre tournaments m the hall every week, but apparently acting on the strength of a recent decision of Magistrate McKean,, of Auckland, who ruled that progressive, euchre was a game of chance, the police heads issued instructions, and Detective-Ser-geant Young was detailed to inquire into, Britten's tournaments. A pro 6e c ution followed, but from the outset it was obvious that Magistrate Mosley had no intention of

■' convicting. "What 4s the difference between a game of euchre and of bi'idge, poker, or solo whist?" was his first question. The Chief-Detective claimed not to he an expert, r . i .but the, magistrate expressed* himself as being familiar with all the games, except that he had not played euchre for several y v ears.

"You will have to show me that euchre is a game of chance, otherwise there will have to be prosecutions for playing whist, one of the best games of cards there is and one of the finest mental exercises." v ; And. that was just where the police failed. They . were unable to satisfy the magistrate that euchre was a game of chance. ; Addressing himself to the general principles involved the Magistrate said that the court was familiar with most I card games which were,' for the most [part,- quite innocent. Even poker could be played . innocently. Card games were a delightful relaxation after a hard day's work, and he was perfectly certain that there were mixed games of skill and chance, mixed inasmuch., as»the .. ordinary player had no [control over the cards he would receive. But having got those cards the player with skilful: knowledge of liow to play would obtain much better results than the ordinary or the poor player. ; \ i

In euchre the element of skill lri playing the cards predominated very largely over the elements of chance, for, In the magistrate's opinion, the element of chance finished once the cards had been dealt out. He expressed the opinion that the Act was never intended to bring a

A Death Penalty?

game of /euchre, whether played m ,a tournament, m a private house or a backwoods' camp, within its scope. • ••'it has been brought 1 within the meaning i,of . the Act by the skill;;, of "the prose;cution r and, shall. 'l say, the lack of experience ot some of. those who had adjudicated on such .occasions." ' . ' ; : ; Some very , pithy comment on tne question of public morality as affected by such matters was then made by tne bench. "I do not, think for a moment that, there is any prejudice to public morals m a game of euchre played m .circumstances as those noAv before the coiii't." ■'■.■■■,.■■ "'■■'•■'■'■. : ■'■- •■ , , „ Remarking that he could not convict. Britten as guilty/of an adt injurious m. any way to public morals,. the magistrate .went.-, on to say : "Ninety per cent, of people's acts might be injurious to . public, morals. . ' , "Why, m one 1 country, whistling on the- Sabbath Day has been, held to bfc prejudicial to public mbrality, and the time might come, even, when racing may so be regarded m this country"That ■ won't happen m ;my time, I don't suppose, but it may "happen, although the has not reached that, stage yet. ;.\ ■ „ , . ■. "The time might come, also, when to say: 'I bet. sixpence this weighs a pound, might be punishable by hahgr ing. It might happen, but m any caseI shan't be here to see that done, "I cannot bring the game of euchre under question. within the Act. To do so would be to assume a Puritanical attitude which I am not prepared to assume. If you suppress individuals m this way when they are not doing any great harm, they will break out m another way, and probably m a more 'harmful one."

Newspaper Fined

And so the .charge was dismissed. ■ But although ' Magistrate Mosley is to be' commended for the broadminded interpretation he placed on, the section under which the prosecution was laid,' :his view is merely a matter of legal opinion. ; ; As was shown m the Auckland case, the northern magistrate took a totally different view, and had Magistrate Mosley concurred m his decision it would have 'meant that, supported by two -magistrates, '-..the police would have been'in a position to have atr tacked all public card tournaments on a wholesale scale. ' ■ -. ■ ; Such is the unsatisfactory constitu-; tion of the fax-cical Gaming Act, which simply bristles Ayith ■} injustices and ridiculous anomalies. . '■-. The police, on the same day! tried to show that the Act prohibited a newspaper from photographing ' Aie number plate of a motor-car at random, publishing the photograph and informing the lucky owner that- he would be presented with a quantity o£. oil or spirit as a prize. This was held by the prosecution jto be a "chance stunt." The magistrate made ! short work of this case also.

Remarkable to state, the police were bold enough— ox* perhaps ignorant enough of the legal aspect of the case —to prosecute the reporter, who had

As She Is Spoke

JHE Magistrate : ' 'You were fairly badly injured, weren't you?" Defendant : -. ' 'Yes ; I had a thick ear, a busted lip and blood nose." '

originated the ' scheme for his paper, as well as the publisher. 1 ' But the bench made it quite clear that the reporter was m no sense re^ sponsible m law, and both informa'tiqns were dismissed.' * -- , Altogether, the police had a more unlucky day than they had /anticipated, although they won m the big case of the day— three charges against tlie "Sun" Newspapers m connection with a competition in' which a prize of £1000 was offered for the first person picking the correct order of the first three horses m the New Zealand Cup and Trotting Cup rabes. - A conviction was entered arid ' a fine "of £10 inflicted, but security for appeal was fixed. . ' : . ; Emerging from the mass of evidence heard , during the proceedings m the various cases dealt with was the stark fact that the Gaming Act is out of date and largely ineffective. , In dealing with the bookmakers it, has proved a fiasco, although it has been . the means of ' bringing m ;a handsome revenue to the State coffers m heavy fines. ' . . - , But m spite of heayy penalties bookmaking flourishes to-day as- never before, and the same will apply similarly to raffles and other games of chance, although the risks of detection for the latter are much greater. The Gaming: Act is a failure, inasmuch as it is unpopular with the great mass of the people. -. j . The Government must recognize this fact and br^ng down some 'sensible measure that will meet present;-, day opinion arid requirements. ' i