The Ashburton Guardian. Magha est Veritas et Prævalebit. SATURDAY, JANUARY 2, 1915. A LOP-SIDED MORAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXV, Issue 9034, 2 January 1915, Page 4

The Ashburton Guardian. Magha est Veritas et Prævalebit. SATURDAY, JANUARY 2, 1915. A LOP-SIDED MORAL.

The "Otago Daily Times;' is very much perturbed at what it describes as the "foolish and wasteful expenditure," "frivolous speculation," and "a reckless use of money," in connection with the investments on the totalisator at 11 of the more important of recent race meetings in the Dominion. We give below the details of the speculation to which our contemporary takes such strong exception, and it will be noted that in each case the total amount put through the machine this year exceeded that handled last year at the corresponding meeting.

* Meeting unfinished. The point which our contemporary wishes to make is that at such a critical period as the present in the history of the nation it is unseemly and callous on the part of the public to ■" waste " such huge sums as would appear to the uninitiated to be represented by the amounts given in the table. The casual reader may be inclined to agree with, this argument; -the moralist will contend that it is unanswerable. But in reality the question covers a very wide range. In the first place, taking the material aspect, the amount invested at each cf the meetings is capable of so much arithmetical analysis that it would be impossible to arrive at a reliable estimate of the extent of the per capita gambling. The total amount may be spread over one, two, or three days, and it must "be divided by the miniber of races on^ each day; and this again must be compared with the average daily attendance. Any follower of racing knows that the same money is handled over and over again by the machine. Take, for instance, the case of the recent Ashburton meeting: no sane person ; would suggest that the 4000 persons who attended the' gathering spent £14,000. The amount went through the machine eight times, and it is a reasonable supposition that the average sum speculated by those present was little more than 30s. This brings us to the moral aspect. It will be argued that if those, who lost that amount (and we will concede that it is probable that .50 per cent, of the investors lost their 30s) had donated it to a patriotic or relief fund it would have been of. direct benefit instead of an economic waste. That is merely a statement of the obvious. What the moralist overlooks is the probability that these losers have already given a great, deal more than 30s each to such funds, that attempts to repress the natural instinct for speculation merely divert it into more questionable channels, and that there is really no need for the people of this country (who have done, and are still doing, their full share to assist the Empire in its great struggle) to curtail their sport. ■■ If -such an. argument held good, all our pleasures would have to be curtailed, for the thousands of pounds the community spends on luxuries and holiday jaunts at this season are to a great extent wasted—they would serve a better purpose if diverted to charitable objects. But what a sombre hue our outlook would assume if we had no vent for our natural desire for sport and recreation. This is not a time for sackcloth and ashes. Business as usual, and sport as usual will keep the nation prepared Tor any emergency.

SI \X J.9U.0. J.S7X*. "Auckland 172,393 Dunedin ... .;. 36,685 Manawatu ... ... 49,896 Taranalri 27,625 Thames 15,946 Auckland (trots) ... 58,289 Gore (trots) ... 10,418 Ashburton; ... ... 11,998 Ree£ton ... ...•■•■ 8,897 •AVestport ... ... ' 9,548 Taratahi-Carterton 8,220 £ ■ 184,537 38,185 51,842 32,335 19,756 65,515 10,807 14,133 12,712 11,874 9,123