GAMBLING.

Auckland Star, Volume 55, Issue 94, 21 April 1924, Page 3

GAMBLING.

(To the Editor.) j Sir, —As commissions seem to be the order of the day, and the columns of the Press from one end of the country to the other frequently draw attention to various effects gambling is having on the people who indulge in horse racing, may I suggest that the Premier and his Cabinet seriously consider the matter of setting up a Royal (Jommission to inquire into the whole ramifications of racing and gambling connected therewith. If such a commission were set ip, and were representative of those who have the welfare of this country and its people at heart, we might arrive at some conclusion whereby the economic pressure as well as the moral fibre of our people might benefit. Should the commission renort that racing could be conducted without depending upon tlie totalisator, as is the case in England, then let the Government pet at the tap root of the gambling evil and cut it out; bul if on the other hand it cannot survive without the gambling machine, then let the recommendation lie that the State control the lot of the betting directly. They miclit as an alternative recommend that the Government take entire control of racing, lifting it out of the hands of a body whereon the mass of the people have no representation whatever.—l am, etc., WHOA.