THE TOTALISATOR.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 12593, 8 September 1906, Page 10

THE TOTALISATOR.

MX ELL'S ABOLITION BILL

DEFENCE OF THE MACHINE BY

MB HERRIES

(SFXCIAI. TO "THE PRESS.")

WELLINGTON, September 7. One of the best deienoee of the totaiisator ever mad© in the House •was the speech of Mr W. H. Herxies, the member tor the Bay of Pien-ty, delivered last evening. Mr Herrue prefaced hie remarks by a lew worde | on ii-orse-ruciug, stating that he believed j l-hvre was no finer sport in the world j than to see a couple oi first-alat» horses rsu-iug, and he then went, on to deal logically with th*s present potion as regards the wtai«>au>r. The totalisator ha.a been legalised by the State, &nd at the umo it was considered a proper thing to do. On. the strength «r tnat certain -racing ciuba had expended 111cn-ey in improving their accommodation aredJ .grounds, and also increased their stake*. Some clufe had even gone into debt to provide nmoh bettor accommodation', etc., in view ot tho parsing of tho Act. Of course, .t might be argued that, as in The case ol the pubLlca.ll having to build a new house and not. getting hie lioense renewed, so it should be in the eatw of racing clubs and! the totalisator. There was, jiowever, this difference, tdmt whrrcas tho publican's license was only an annual license, the totalisator was permitted under an Act that presumably would not be repealed without vvrv good reason. Tho one depended \ipo~n statute law and tho other upon a yearly license. Therefore, if the ■totiviisator was to bo abolished, it was only right that a certain, number of rears';au>tioe should bo given. He believed' that the Wellington Racing Club had recently spent £35,000 on a new racecourse at Trenitha-ni. Such a club should not bo wiped out without due notice, and a heavy debt hung over the shoulders of those gentlemen who had guaranteed the loan. Mr Hurries, apoaking with the authority of one who Jiad something to do with the control of racing in New Zealand, said that every one in that House, amd most racing people in the country, would agree that the great object of those who really wished to control racing was to do away with betting and g-imbling altogether, and the reason they wished to do that was because they wished to keep the sport clean and free from suspicion. Wherever there was betting, there was trouble and euspiciom, and those who had some control of the racing of this colony found they could get cleaner sport and sport that was not so besmirched with suspicion by having the totalisator, than they could when the betting was conducted by bookmakers. It would be impossible to put down betting by Act of Parliament unless they abolished horseracing altogether, and ho did not think even Mr Jill would go as far as that. They could not have horseracing at tho present time without some hotting, and experience showed that they could keep the. sport purer with tho totalisator than they oquld with tho bookmaker. Then the totalisator could not,clear out with the cash, and it wn.s open amd above board. It did not walk about asking men to bet; they had to go to it to make their bete. Ho was quite in accord with those who held that illegal betting should be put down. Hβ denied utterly that the totilisator had produced bookmakers; there wero more bookmakers in the colony before tho totalisator was legalised thai> thero were now. In tilie Old Country where- they had no totalisator, betting was ten times greater than here in proportion to the population. They had already mad© betting at "tote" odds illegal, but tho totalizator should not bo blamed because people bet at "tote" odds. It was for tho police to put down the illegal I practice. He (Mr Hernias) did not deny that betting and gambling in every possible way wero increasing in New Znat land, but the question the House should look at was whether it was increasing in New Zealand more than in'any other country. , Hβ quoted-from the report of the Bishop of Hereford's Committee in the Honso of Lords to show conclusively that betting was increasing to a largo extent in the Old Country, where they did not have the totalisator. He be>lieved if they were to get up a Commission in any colony or in any coun- ; try they would find that betting was on the increase, but the totalisator was j not to blame for it. He believed that gambling increased with, tlie increasing prosperity of tho country, and that if wo had bad times betting would decrease. If Mr Ell wanted to keep tho sport of horseracing pure let him assist the clubs not by attempting to abolish, the totalisator but by helping them to get rid of he scum of the turf. The hon. gentleman^ wan going on wrong lines; if he woulcTassist by making the totalisator the absolute means of betting, and endeavouring to get rid of the "guesscrs," tho bookmakers, the"welshersj" and all those people who wero the ciinso of racing, then he believed there would be some chance of putting a really pure sport before the people. There were owners like his friend Mr Stead, of Canterbury, and Sir George Clifford, who never be>t on their horses; the stakes were enough for them, but if the totalisator wore abolished and small stakes again became the order of the day, the owner of a large .stud must pay hie way by backing his horses with a bookmaker and many evils would arise. Hβ agreed that tho fractions that were not paid out on the machine should be given to a charity. As to keeping telegraph offices open on the course, he agreed that that wa-s not a good thing, but the racing olubs should not be blamed for the action of tho Postmaster-General. Mr Ell: "I blame the Government." Mr Herries added that he did not want beEting news published; he was prepared to have that abolished so long «s the results of the races wero printed. '