EVILS OF GAMBLING.

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 165, 14 July 1910, Page 7

EVILS OF GAMBLING.

HON. G. VQWUDB". DEPDTATIONIS.ED. SOMETHING TO BE DONE. iA large deputation, represeritMive of. the commercial interests of Auckland, waited on* the Hon. G. Fowlds at' Government; Buildings last evening, in Tβference to the campaign against bookmakers and the gambling evil. Thero were present:—Messrs. l>. Goldie, J. C. Macky, J. W. Stewart,. W. Spragg, B. Buttle, W.- McCallum, P. Bpile, J. H. Gunson, G. C. Garlick, F. Renshaw, A, B. Robertson, E. Bond, S. Parker, T. Macky, F. M. E. Morton, T. Hodgson, , Graves Aiekin, J. Miller, H." M. Smeeton, E. Tudehape, K. -Harty, Ixanbert, R. Angus, W. H. Lyons, E. W. Edmiston, W. Commons, W. -Dyke, li. .H. Keals, J. Vickerman; Revs. W. E. Gillam and H. Knowles Kempton. Mr Goldie, the .-first speaker, said !he would take it for granted that Mr Fowlds was fully conversant with the evils of gambling, and the comments passed by Mr Justice Chapman on the, present law which legalised the bookmaker and his calling. Fresh legislation was wanted to put an end to the trouble. He did not think the course suggested by the Premier—to bring bookmakers before a . magistrate before granting a license —would be sufficient. (Hear, hear.) Bookmakers, he admitted, could be respectable persona, but their calling was objectionable. The New York {legislature had Tecently adopted two I bills, one forbidding bo6kmaking, both with or without writing, and the other rendering race-track directors liable- to punishment if gambling took place on their tracks. If the New Zealand Government would go as far as that, it would be •sufficient for a little while.

Mr ,Fowld3: Would you also include the totalisator?

Mr Goldie: We want betting on the tracks prohibited, but if you can't do away with the totalizator do away with the bookmaker, and that will be satisfactory for the present.

Mr. J. C. Macky referred to the farreaching effects of the gambling vice, and stated that bookmakers had agents penetrating the warehouses and the factories,' reaching the very centre of the industries of the city. Gambling had spread so rapidly that now a sum of £2,000,000 went through the totalisator every year, and it was a terrible fact that during th,e last ten years the State had drawn £222,000 from the totalisator. All business men would doubtless feel it was a perfect disgrace that money should be drawn from a gambling machine to pay some of the cost of the administration of the country's' affairs. Bettiag was increasing in every direction. They had their boys gambling; it was found in business to a certain extent; and it was apparent on the Stock Exchange, where young men were tempted to take chances. Mr. Justice Chapman's criticism had to be seriously weighed. The legalising of bookmakers had not only helped to make criminals, but had helped to make very clever criminals.

Mr. Stewart pointed out that the agitation was not parochia}, but affected the whole Dominion, in its business, home, and family Ufe. ■ The Minister, in reply,, remarked that it was hardly necessary f 6t, him "to "say that he was in fullest sympathy with the views represented^-("Hear, hear") —and he would only be -too pleased to do what he could to have them given effect to. The Government, he pointed out, was quite seized of the fact that a very great evil had developed from the particular clause in the Gaming' Act of a few sessions ago legalising bookmakers, but it had to be remembered that the Act, which was a great advance on the then existing.law dealing with gambling in every respect, excepting so far as affecting bookmakers, would not have been passed into law at the time it was if the clause in question had not been inserted. The legislation was not only wanted this session, but there was a sufficient number of members in the House who believed that if the totalisator were allowed to operate, the bookmaker should be permitted, to follow his calling on the course. The intention of the Legislature was to confine gambling to racecourses. v Experience had shown, however, that not only had the legislation failed in that direction, but it had tended to develop an evil of its own. The Glovernment was quite aware of the evils, and was determined to do something this session to counteract the effects of past legislation. No doubt, when the matter was finally decided, it would be very much on the lines suggest-, cd. The Minister said he recQgnised the development that had taken place in connection with the bookmaker had been very far-reaching, not only in relation to gambling,, but also in attracting a considerable number of the criminal class to New Zealand. He would see that ' the views of the deputation were fully represented to his colleagues, who, with the speaker, realised that something had to be done promptly to put an end to the evil. (Applause.)