PRESBYTERIAN VIEWS.

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25741, 1 March 1949, Page 6

PRESBYTERIAN VIEWS.

ILLEGAL GAMBLING OPPOSED (P.A.) DUNEDIN. February 28. The Presbyterian Church of New Zealand desired the eradication of illegal gambling, and believed that bookmaking could be checked now. said the convener of the church’s Public Questions Committee (the Rev. J. S. Somerville) in a statement on the gaming referendum to-day. “There is much in the public mind over the issues involved in the referendum,” Mr Somerville said. “The propaganda of the Racing and Trotting Conferences has led people to believe that the issue is simply between legal off-course betting and illegal off-course betting. “The issue is rather between more or less gambling—between upholding the law and confining betting to the racecourses on the one hand, and a widespread increase in betting all over the country on the other. We want all gambling reduced to a reasonable minimum. We particularly want illegal gambling eradicated. “We are on the side of law and order; we consider that people who disregard the law now are little likely to regard or respect it when a new law is made to suit them. “If. however, the law is really at stake, good faith could be shown by a clean-up of bookmaking now. There is no unholy alliance between the churches and the bookmakers. If the proposal for legal off-course betting is defeated, we believe that the Government will have a mandate to eradicate the bookmaker.”