EVIL OF GAMBLING.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XLIV, Issue 10132, 9 June 1924, Page 2

EVIL OF GAMBLING.

THE RACECOURSE DENOUNCED.

EV. T. W. VEALIE OUTSPOKEN

A wholesale indictment 'of. gambling, with special reference to race-track methods, was made by the Rev. T. W. Vealie at last night's service of the Baring Square Methodist Churcu. The preacher commenced his sermon by stating that if race-going was true sport he would be on the course tomorrow. If he could be convinced that racecourse gambling could be done in the name of Christ, and not in the name of pure selfishness, he would have nothing to say against it. To demonstrate how the evil was growing , in this Dominion, he quoted figures to the effect that New Zealand, with its li millions of population, had more

race-days than .England, witn its ou millions. In the last 14 years the amount spent annually in totalisator gambling in New Zealand had grown from £2,000,000 to £8,000,000. _ No country could stand that economically. Of all the pamphlets issued by professors of economics in England, every one had pointed out the great economic danger of gambling. The rate at j which the evil was growing in New J Zealand must inevitably spell doom for this country. In addition to the days already allotted for racing, the public was informed that it was proposed to legislate for an increase in i the facilities for "this gigantic evil." The time was ripe for all Christian people to protest against this gambling, continued Mr Vealie. He understood that a protest from business men was in circulation at the present time. He had been told by several men in business that they stood to lose heav-

ily if they maintained their integrity and did not enter into the racing business in a certain capacity. "Many a young man's darkest hour has been his first investment on a horse," declared the preacher. He had been told that the vice of gambling was growing in strength among young men. Indulgence in it was diametrically opposed to true manliness. When an honest business man was seeking a young man assistant, he was careful to select one who did not indulge in gambling. There was something radically wrong with a young person who could not resist the degenerating influence of each new temptation .to

bet. Many young men thought it a smart thing to gamble, but the preacher would put goodness far ahead of "smartness." Success gained by smart villainy was of the most dangerous kind. The influence of the racecourse did not stop at gambling, Mi' Vealie averred. It went further than that. Public

houses and the racing clubs were very closely allied, and these two seductive influences worked surely to bring out vice in its many and ugly forms. Selflove was nourished by them, and from this sprang all vice. If the gambling evil was growing, what proportions would it assume in 50 years' time, when the generations to come were afflicted with the withering blight! The evil that men did lived after them. Our forefathers had fought strenuously against all forms of slavery and corruption. Were we to prove false to them and nullify their good work? If national life was to be ideal, individual life must first be made so, and it devolved upon all Christian people, to rid the land of this devastating i menace.