UNEVEN JUSTICE.

Auckland Star, Volume 55, Issue 63, 14 March 1924, Page 4

UNEVEN JUSTICE.

At the roliee Court this morning a young man who was convicted of undertaking to make a bet for a fellow employee was sentenced to a term of seven days' imprisonment. He was in the Government service and the prosecution entailed the loss of his position. This, in its.cH,is no light punishment, and to brand him as a criminal by a term in gaol is harsh treatment. While the State legalises the totalisator betting is surely an offence and not a crime. .Inries have recognised this in refusing to bring in a verdict of guilty in the case of bookmakers operating on a large scale, even where the evidence has been perfectly clear. At every sitting of the Supreme"Court we sec persons convicted of theft and other serious criminal offences admitted to probation, and yet a young married man of twenty-three, who has a wife and child, is imprisoned for making a bet or bets for his associates. Anyone who hits _ny knowledge of racing knows that there arc numerous bookmakers in this city who openly carry on the business of "betting on an extensive scale. It ia their source of livelihood and they profit handsomely. But they are passed by and a youth" who has lost his position through making a bet, and has in any case to make a fresh start in life, is' seized by the police and a magistrate sends him to gaol. There is "something very wrong here: those who hold this particular enactment of Parliament up to contempt, go scotfree, and an individual who barely infringes the Act receives the criminal brand. If the Justice Department, find that they are incapable of enforcing this law the sooner Ilic legislature abolishes the penalty of imprisonment, for its breach the better. In the meantime this particular rase should be investigated by the Department.