THE GAMING BILL.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 251, 22 October 1924, Page 10

THE GAMING BILL.

ORDEAL OF EXHAUSTION. ELABORATE OBSTRUCTION I PLANS. i AX ALL NIGHT SITTINT , ,. (Br Telegrupli. -Sp.-i.-lal to "Star. ,- ) WELLINGTON, Tuesday. Opponents of increased racing permits arc depending on delay to j>revent tin , Gan|ing Bill passing tliis session, and. as the Housn is becoming anxious tv en(l its labours, they are playing a strong card. The report of the committee which considered the Gaming Ameiiflirjent Bill was talked on at great length to-day, although the committee, having made no change in the measure, thus avoided giving fresh points to speakers. The Government is well aware of the difficulties ahead, but is understood to he quite willing to give at least two days to discussion, an ordeal which may 'so exhaust the combatants that some compromise may lie reached. A hint of the obstructionists' plans was given by Mr. SlcCombs, who calmly announced to the House that something like 200 amendments to the Gaming Amendment Bill had been preparedMr:" McCombs condemned the Government for bringing forward such a bill which would, lie said, result in greiit waste,of time, and would not get on to the Statute Book in the end. Several Reform members questioned this assertion, but were hardly so confident wliou JXr. McCombs said he had prepared a list of ;74 amendments, most of them very urgent, and that lie knew of another list-of 117, all of which would iie moved when the bill went into cominitteq'. There, were thus something like 200 amendments. Members interjected sarcastically, ".Not enough." Mr. McCombs followed up his advantage by pointing out' that, even if there were no'discussion pm any of the amendments, it WQuJd . ta.ke ten minutes to carry through each, division, which meant 2000- miriutes, or 33 hours devoted to voting on the amendments. (Laughter). M/,. Jlassey: You cannot block the House like that. Mr. McC'ombs, ignoring the interjectiort,.sujcl Jib'was sure some of the amendments would require explanation. would, of course, take up p. great more time. Among various amendments was one dealing with credit betting, and that wouHl require same, discussion. Another proposition he would, like to vote against woufit bo the : licensing of bookmakers. He understood tWt this, would be moved from' the Government side. 3|r.; L.angst-Qne (a meniher qf tfte pominitteel.said every facility given to witnesses'to. give evidence on all sjdes of the measure. It was.mentioned that Auaijy tota.lisator§ were let by contract, "and that, unless it was specially others wise stipulated, the fractions would go to the cojjtractQr, and th.ese ranged froni £40' to £300" a daj\ Another point which was raised was the- amount oi . : .money not claimed-, .by ' the public owing to, • last tickets. Apprentices were required "to pay half their winnings .ta '. trainers; ; which was a most un-British system. He beli6ve<l; SQjne of the tyfuner-s did not tak.Q. tfiis money. Apprentices were fined'for false star-ts,. and. tlieae. sums .totalled hundreds of. .pounds. annually. . It> : ha&i been suggested there wfts no such thing ni credit betting, butji Supreme Court judge had cfttieised the prac-:. tiee of accepting clfeqiies on the totalisator. .•" • ■ * i - " - •Jlr. L. M. Isitt: What course wastliat? ' ' : " -Mr. Langstone: Hawera, I thin}?.'; He. ndded that everyone knew that a' claim cauld not be. made an. a <lish.a,non.red, cheque presented in respect of bets. If people could bet on the to.talisator with, cheques there was no difference between. it and the bookmaker. Before more permits were granted the whole rules ni racing 'should' ho" revised, Evidence had been.. given' that''one-day meetings could ;npt he ma.de to pay, and the argument was-that extra permits should ihe given to one-day clubs, but it had. been Shown that; some t\vo.-day meetings did not pay, and the same argument would be tised for- extra. permits• for these clubs. The issue pf further permits would not solve the problem. He assured the House that he was not kicking up n, noise merely to get into the limelight. ! Members: That -is just what you are doing. (Laughter.) One Course for Auckland. Mr. Langstohe'a'ddeil that he had suggested to a trotting man th,at one racecQtirse was. sufficient fox Aue.kla.nd) but the reply was that Ellerslie was not suitable for trotting, a.3 trotters would bq too far away from the public. He thought that reply- too thin. !Mr. Glenn said Sir Edwin Mitchelaon and vfnlffl Rp,we (president qf tl\e Auckland Trotting Club,) had conferred, as to the possibility of running trotting and racing on one course, when it -was decided thai su,ch an arrangement was impossible. Mr. Eowe gave evidence that it would be impracticable. For stance, it was pointed put that the turns on trotting courses should be banked, ] which wpiild be unsuitable for galloping. Mr. Isitt: Would one trotting course and one galloping course be enough for Auckland ? Mr. Glenn: No! I do not think Wβ have neojly enpugh, Various other speakers continued the debate, and Mr. Isitt was in the middle of a discourse when the dinner adjournment arrived. The report was therefore talked out. PREMIERS SURPRISE MOVE. THE DEBATE RESUMED: A surprise was sprung upon the House of Representatives on its resumption, after the dinner adjournment this evening, ■when the Premier moved suspension of the Standing Orders to allow continuation of the afternoon debate on the motion to table the report on the Gaming Bill. Mr. L. M. Isitt strongly opposed the motion. He considered it astonishing that at this stage of the session such n motion should be moved, when there was a lot of important legislation which he submitted would be sacrificed to the interest of sports. The Gaming Bill, as every man in the House knew, had very little chance of passing: Mr. T. W. Ehodes (Thames): Nonsense. Mr. Isitt: Hp.V' Will you get through a hundred amendments? Air. "A. Harris CYYi'temata) declared that the btf? htvrt np.t; a " thousand to quo chance of becoming law. Why was time wasted on it? "Mr. Massey: Why, waste time npw? MrT'H.*']2. Holland strongly objected to the Premier's motion, He. recalled the fate of the previous bill, which, after an all night debate, was withdrawn by the Premier "at nine in tlm morning/the Premier having been away /rpm the House- since ten ocjock tlia previous- -night.

Mr. Tarry (Auckland Central) said | the Premier had made a tactical blunder, and if lie forced a fight -it! would be strenuous. " Not Buckley's Chance." j Mr. V. 1L Potter declared that the I j bill had not "Buckley's chance ,, of going . i through. ] Mr. Lee (Auckland East) said -Mr. Masaey was looking for trouble, and if i the bill went forward the Premier would j lie very disappointed at the end of the week. He thought the reason for the Premier's move was to avoid discussion of business, and also to avoid a furious attack which Mr. Lysnar threatened to make upon the Government. "A disgraceful resolution," was | how .Mr. Lee described Mr. Massey's j motion, but, on called to order for | I this unparliamentary expression, he, (i-hnnged it to "regrettable resolution." He su™ested tllat }[,- Massey withdraw the motion, and apologise for having wasted time. The Premier explained that it had been ' impossible to bring the bill down sooner, j There had been no trouble in its early ] stagex, and it had been sent to a coin- ! mittec, on the distinct understanding j I that the hill would be assisted through; I the House by the committee. Were! 'npponeifts being fair' The afternoon's I I discussion was pure waste of time. I A Parliamentary Farce. Mr. liaitram (Grey Lynn) sajd, this ' was one of tlip farces of Parliamentary life. .Mr. Massey: Hear, hear! Mr. Tlnrtrain remarked that it was a novelty to find Mr, Massey and himself iii agreement. He considered Mr. .Massey was responsible for the waste of time. Premier's Motion Carrifd. About 11 p.m. a. division \yqs taken, when the Premier's motion was carried by 41 against 20. The division list was ai follows: — AYES (41). XOJES (29). Anderson Armstrong Bell Bartram Bollard Bitchener Coates Buddo Corrigan Dicksou, J. M. Do La Perrelle Kdie Dickson, J. S. I'.rager Field Girling Forbes Harris. . Glenn Holland Guthrie 1 sitt Hanan Jordan Hawfcen Langatone Henare Lee Hockly MeComps Hudson MclJvride Hunter Melyec.il Linklater Macphersqn Lysnar Mdnteith McKay Munrp McLeod . O'Brieii Macmillan l >ar ?y i Massey Porter Masters Rolleston, F. J. Murdoch Kolleston, J. C. Nash . . Savage Nosworthy Sidey '■ ' " "■' Parr Sullivan • '• H Poland .'■■ ' ■•'Wrighi , Pomafe ":,' ",'" '.' ■". •■ ■ Ransom •Ehodes, Sir R. Jl. 'rl ' VIC. Rhodes, T. W. ■' ■', ; •.. * :.. •Smitii: :;;;.■';.;:.■-. - : j :■*.■■;;;'- ;• Stewurt . : - . , ■ Sykes - - • .' - -' Yeitoh v ;..;;;'. ■ ' .-'.. ■ .; JV-; 'Wilford . — - .l::-----' , "" ' Williame : '' • Witty .' , ■:.;. {■ ■■:' ;■■'■:■ %& Young r~ ■-•-.•--, -:. .:■/:- The debate was thereupon rtsumedi* , and Mr. Isitt continued his speech, inter?' rupted at th£ dinner adjournment. \ He mentioned that among 110 amendments which he had prepared, he hftd ofle making it unlawful for any racing club to, give any member of either.House of Parliament a.free pass; a free lunch, or free liquor, under a penalty of £20 for every offence, algo' tjiat' .any "memberreceiving sucli a free pass, lunch, or liquor be liable tq a of £$. That amendment, he thought, would lead to a long debate. Mr. Parry: Quite an arresting' subject. ■ . " '■■'. ~L - ,:;;#:■

AFTER MIDNIGHT. TALK ENDS ABRUPTLY, (By.Telcsrapli.—Special to "Star.") WELLINGTON, this day.' The report wpS il> tlje HoiiEe of Representatives this morning after the longest sitting Oβ: tlig session. It wfts a_ dull debate, purely \o. occupy time, eacli "opponent of tVe jjijl speaking for r iy minutes. Mr. J. Lee (Auckland. Ea,'st) !.»•?«»• i moved an amendment that tl\e.'repari \» i referred back to the cpmmittep. Mr. V. H. Potter (Roskill) frqm. the government benches seconded ' the motion. He a,ffeptcd tp be • cqneernet}.; over the apparent indifference of niost j members. 0"ly . t»ne lateral I in the House, and lie appeared to lie ( asleep, . were «n duty, I ai\d five Labourites awaited further opportunities tp speajc. • As, j fewer ■ than a quorum present Mr. i MeKeen raised a gf wit,h , the result that a number of sjeepjng members raised then.iselveg up sufliciently | to enable Mr. Speaker to (jecide th{it the | minimum of twenty was present;- " Mr. ' I'-otter announced that, not as a "spoil i sport,'* but in the interests of honest j bi\siness, be was. prepared tq stay ujj for two nights and two days to obstruct a gambling bill. Further speeches by the bill's opponents, wprp occqsionaHy interrupted by ,-v cqui\t of \\\s i Mr. Wright (Wellington iSuburba) at' 3 a.m. was talking about the J ness of' tips, when a Labour 'member' suggested that a lot of members would be wrongly tipped to win at the' naxt election. "Wpw WPW>" interjected a sceptic. "Put that dog out,"" added another. : " "'. Mr. Wvigli.t bveught. dignity PftcJ? into the debate with' the' declaration, "A coward dies. many, times, - hut a brave n\a.n only once.." ' Mr. A. Harris (Waitemata) took half an hour in giving ihe lifouse wh4t he \ called a few reasons agajnst legislating till the position had b"een investigated, a.s Parliampnt ha 4 already thirteen heturs, hardly to\ic)iing the fringe o,f the subject- ' I Talk s\(ild.enly ended at, 34? a.m., I ■tUoN.gJi W le rQi ivppeareii tq be ftmple, to s,tone\yaU. Mr.' Lee'e 'amendment was lp,at q« thp vpicen, and the report was tabbed. It; afterwards traflßpired that. tUe ojjppneJitSi of the bi}{ would jiftvc' been saiisj'fjedt an earlier terminationj but several who had undertaken tp carry on,, the debate ill the early hours preferred to exercise their stane wall ing talents with a view tq a more serious cncoiinter.oji the next i stage of the bill. i The ITouse adjoiirned till 3.30 p.nj; : to-day. ' ' -.•'., '■;. -.'.■:*'..' . ■ . ! :