SPORTING ITEMS.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 10043, 23 May 1898, Page 2

SPORTING ITEMS.

«' Weekly Press and Referee. ' The result of the raid on the so called " toto shops" in Christchurch, a sentence of two months' imprisonment with hard labour on the three who were convicted of keeping " common gaming houses in which totalisator betting was carried on," has, as was only to be expected, set sporting circles throughout the colony talking. It is curious to note that a decision of the full court in Sydney has just resulted in tlie voluntary closing of the majority of the betting shops in the capital of New "South Wales, while at Die present time an agitation is going forth in various parts of America for the closing of the " down town pool rooms,*' which correspond with the colonial hotting shop. In the Auckland district lust week we find a bookmaker convicted and fined, with the alternative of fourteen days" imprisonment,, for cash betting on a racecourse, the magistrate holding that t"*e position the offender took up to be a place within the meaning of the Act, and pointing out that, an it wns the first case in the district, he ileci-lcd to take a lenient view. From this it would appear that if any further cases of cash betting on racecourses nrc brought before him I hose charged may not expect to get oft' so lightly. This is the viexv, by the way, that Mr Richmond Beetham, the Cliristchurch S.M., took of matter.* when some little time back he had before him certain persons charged with totalisator betting on a racecourse. He threatened lie would deal more severely with offenders in the. future, and he has certainly kept his word. Thcconvictiona have naturally attracted a lot of attention and comment. . Mujli sympathy has been expressed ml certain quarters for those convicted, one— Mr Martin Taylor—having been prominent as a bookmaker and coursing man for many years, in the latter connection being as well known in Australia a* he is in New Zealand. As two of the cases have not been finally decided, it would be out of place to make any comment ou their various phases. But it may well be said that those convicted must havo been fully aware of the risks they were taking, while they were well acquainted with the views, expressed in tho previous cases, of the magistrate. Therefore, they could hardly have been surprised at his making up his mind to send them to prison without the alternative. Whether the maximum fine might have proved as effective a deterrent as imprisonment is not for us to say, in view ot the appeal to the Supremo Court. Bat what the magistrate thought can be gathered from his remarks. In giving judgment he said •—" Dealing recently with offences of this description, I found it necessary to inflict severe punishment. Experience showed mc that fines were useless, but when I used the process of imprisonment the evil waa at once checked." Whatever may be said to the contrary, it is quite certain that betting will never be prevented. That it can be regulated, however, is freely admitted. It has been seriously written that the "tote shop" is to a great extent the product of the totalisator, and suggested that the Legislature should abolish the totalisator. Do that, and the colony will be at once overrun with hordes of the worst class of character from all parts of Australia —"Bpielers" of the lowest description. We have always been staunch supporters of the totalisator nnd need not reiterate our arguments why its legalisation is wise in the interests of racing and the betting public. While it is worked under strict regulations and supervision en our racecourses there can be no fairer or oleaner means of speculating on horse races, lit. is unfair and injudicious to urge the abolition of the totalisator because people persist in breaking the law by betting "totalisator odds" at shops. One might as well urge that exhibitions or other such attractions be disallowed because they attract from all parts • horde of pickpockets and thieves who usually reap a rich harvest on such occasions by their nefarious practices. Sir Robert Stout's Gaming Adt was designed purposely to suppress totalisator shops and betting, and it only remains for the authorities to continue to enforce the law and we shall aoon see the* evils complained of mitigated. And in this connection no better reply could be made to the arguments advanced by a contemporary against the totalisator than the remarks contained in a recent number of that influential journal, the New York "Turf, Field and Farm." In discussing the racing bill, known as the Breeder-' Law, passed by the Legislature of Missouri, that paper says: — "Tho legalising of bookmaking in one place, and Its prohibition in another, is claimed by tho pool-room element to be class legislation, and on this ground the constitutionality of the law is denied. It does not seem that the class legislation argument is at all well founded, for it is not legislation in favour of one class against another, but simply allows tho samo class privileges in one place and under circumstances which are denied the same class at other places. Under the law reputable bookmakers can "secure licenses to carry on their business at the race -tracks, but not at other places, and disreputable ones, who fail to get licenses, must go out ot the business. It is legislation in favour of reputable against disreputable pewons, and if that can be legitimately termed class legislation, then all police regulations and civil and criminal jurisprudence must come in the same category. The sale of liquor is governed by certain restrictions, but laws prohibiting the sale of liquor in certain places and allowing it in others have never been challenged as class legislation. Bookmaking and pool-selling under the Missouri racing law stand on precisely the same {irinciplo. -Bookmakers in the eyes of the aw are one class of citizens, as are doctors, lawyers, tradesmen, liquor dealers, kc, and each must conduct business under various •restrictions in order that the worthy in each class and the general public may be protected from the impositions of the disreputable. It i« to be hoped that the Missouri law will bo sustained, and if every State in the Union had a similar one the racing problem would be thoroughly solved." We have contended over and over again that if betting through the totalisator were confined to the racecourses, we should find little outcry against the totalisator from those who do and who do not study the subject. All over the world shop betting has been going on more or less, but of late the authorities in each place seem to have been taking steps 40 close them np. Tbe last mail to band from —*-t*idon brings news of a conviction in Leeds, particulars of which will be found on a later page. In commenting on the case tbe Times" says:—-". . . These "were all the objectionable elements that Sir A. Cockbum, in his speech in the House of Oomrnona, dc**___d it was the intention of the Act _« waa then introducing to suppress. This was common betting-house betting, pure and .impie, away fcrom a racecoi-rse with persons of the poorer class, who betted for the sake of betting. . . ." If in New Zealand the "down town" cash betting that goes on azflODgst yotuig and old can entirely be suppressed a great good to the communities will have been effected. But there is no reason why the healthy assistance to racing secured through the totalisator should not be legally continued. Indeed in large populous countries such as New South Wales, Victoria and America, where the mac—bete is not at present in use, the deeptbinking men connected with sport are doing e*-_t-*-t*___g pcesibre to bring about the legalisation of the totalisator. And before long we may expect to find the machine flourishing in the countries just named,