GAMBLING HELD NOT EVIL

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25160, 16 April 1947, Page 6

GAMBLING HELD NOT EVIL

EVIDENCE BY FORMER CITY MISSIONER

FORMS OF CONTROL SUGGESTED

(P.A.) AUCKLAND, April 15. “I cannot agree that gambling is evil,” said the Rev. Jasper Calder, former City Missioner, who gave evidence before the Gaming Commission. Methods of control of gambling suggested by Mr Calder were that totalisators only should be operated for betting on racecourses, and that bookmakers should be licensed for offcourse betting. He opposed any suggestion for the licensing of startingprice bookmakers, as this would be in direct opposition to the totalisator. Similarly, he was against a doubles totalisator, as this would be in opposition to licensed bookmakers off the course.

Experiences among jockeys when he was probation officer for the Auckland district of the Racing Conference some years ago were recounted by Mr Calder. He said he had known many jockeys intimately for a long period, and had always attended race meetings while he was probation officer. A group of jockeys in his confl(Jpnce had promised him that they would report anyone who made an offer to pull a horse to him, and he had investigated several cases of this kind. Some were from bookmakers and some from owners, and he had managed to throw a scare into them. Mr Calder proposed that a licensing authority of, say, a magistrate, a police officer, and a representative of the Church, issue licences to bookmakers under most strict regulations. Any unlicensed bookmaker, such as starting price and tote odds men, would be hit hard, and also the people who might bet with them. If any system of licensing of bookmakers were adopted he was sure that licensed bookmakers would assist the authorities in every way to stamp out unlicensed persons.

To Mr W. E. Leicester, who appeared for the Dominion Sportsmen’s Association, Mr Calder said it was a dreadful thing that the laws of the Dominion regarding gaming were being publicly and continually flouted, and he agreed that the licensing of off-course betting might remove the scandal. He did not think that a bookmaker was more of a corrupter of the turf than any other person connected with racing. The witness agreed with counsel for the Associated Churches, Dr. O. C. Mazengarb. that covetousness was a sin. He also agreed that gambling was becoming a craze in New Zealand, and was near to being a national vice. Asked by Mr Justice Finlay if he had observed any results of gambling in his work as City Missioner. Mr Calder said he did not know of any cases where juvenile delinquency had been caused by gambling. He had come across abject poverty which was undoubtedly due to the insidious effect of gambling, but these cases were sporadic, and amongst a type of person who would bet on anything. He could not honestly say that gambling caused more social distress than immorality or drinking.