GAMBLING DEAN

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29272, 2 August 1960, Page 15

GAMBLING DEAN

Church Storm In Australia BRISBANE, August 1. A Saturday excursion to a Brisbane racecourse by the Dean of Brisbane, the Very Rev. W. P. Baddeley, has caused a controversy in Australian church circles. Dean Baddeley backed six winners at Eagle Farm racecourse on Saturday on his first visit to a race meeting. He arrived with binoculars, camera, racebook, and cigar. A spokesman for the Anglican Church said today that Dean Baddeley had acted within his rights in going to the races and backing horses. The superintendent of the Central Methodist Mission, Dr. Alan Walker, said: “The advocacy of the Dean of Brisbane of liquor and gambling is a disgrace to the church.”

The Dean of Melbourne, Dr. Barton Babbage, said: “I am bound to say that I regard Dean Baddeley's gambling activities with embarrassment and dismay.

Nevertheless I recognise that each man is entitled to do what his conscience approves.” A member of the New South Wales branch of the World Council of Churches, the Rev. B. G. Judd, said: "If Dean Baddeley thinks that is the way to get people into the Kingdom of God. he is entitled to his opinion.” Dean Baddeley said of his visit to the races: “It was the most wonderful relaxation.”

Last night members of the congregation of St Alban’s Chuch of England presented him with a badge in the shape of a horse. “The badge was presented to me as a gesture of fun but it indicated to me that the people responsible were far from disapproving of my actions,” he said.