BETTING AND HORSE-RACING

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIII, Issue 111, 12 May 1902, Page 2

BETTING AND HORSE-RACING

In tbe Newmarket Methodist Church last evening tbe Rev. J. T. Pinfold, Pb.B., preached from Matt. vii. 12 on the above subject. The preacher said: God has so created us that we naturally enjoy anything that demands a trial of skill. A horse-race is in itself as harmless as a game of cricket, but a terrible parasite has fastened itself on to this otherwise harmless amusement. The essence of betting is acknowledged robbery. It seeks to obtain mtmey without an equivalent being given for it. The sin of betting is not an imaginary but a very real foe to progress, and its baneful influence is seen on every hand. The race is not always to the swift and strong horse, but often to one whose success Is gained by trickery. The amount of time and capital that is wasted in connection with race meetings shows that they are hurtful to trade. Tbe unsettlement of mind that betting produces is no mean factor in the solving of this problem. The more serious aspect of betting in relation to trade, by which young men especially are tempted to take what is not their own until they are ruined, was illustrated and enforced by the recent remarks of several Judges of our Supreme Courts. Quotations from the writings of Herbert Spencer the sociologist, Mr Proctor the astronomer, and Chas. Bjngsley the novelist, were read.to show that bet-

ting leads to ruin—financial, moral and spiritual. Mr Pinfold appealed to his hearers not to visit races, because, he said, they disintegrate the grit of true humanity, weaken belief in honest work, and are morally mischievous and unchristian. Christians were exhorted to help those who were in the toils of the tempter, to use their influence in making the totalizator illegal, and to strive so to raise the tone of public opinion that men shall feel it their duty to do unto others Avbat they wish others to do unto them.