THE GAMING ACT IN OPERATION.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 99, 20 January 1908, Page 6

THE GAMING ACT IN OPERATION.

'It_ seldom' happens that an. Act of Parliament interfering with the liberty of the public does all that it is intended to do; and when an Act is rushed through jn the- dying hours of the session, avenues of escape from its provision are not difficult to discover. The_ Gaming and Lotteries Act, of last' session is a case in point. This Act, as wie pointed out when it was before Parliament, has a number pf good points, ans some bad ones. ' It has air ready done some good, and it has thus early done some harm. : It is not pur intention just, now to review the Act in detail, or at any length, but there; are ono or two matters which are caus-' ing some comment at the present time which deserve attention, An incident at the race meeting held at Trentham on Saturday last affords an illustration of the harm which may arise from hasty legislation, however well-meaiit the intention m'ay be. ' We refer to the fiasco in the Tongariro Hack Handicap whicfy resulted in the race haying to be run a second time owing to the starter sending off the horses before the' time fixed by the OIul). ' Prior to the passing pf the Act. of last session complaints were occasionally hecird of the. total jsator being worked aftor'the finish of a race, The* fact that the investments might have been received before the race did not remove -the suspicion which existed in such cases that all was not fair and above-board. To remedy this state of things a provision was inserted in the Act setting out that it shall not be lawful for the officials of any racing club to receive or register investments on the totalisator for any race after tho time notified by the club for ' the. start: ing of such race. An admirable provision in its wayj but how do.e6 it work, out in practice r i ; It is well known that circumstances ? frequently , a club 'starting races'exactly' to the time stated on the card-,; though:most of the larger clubs keep very close to it. But even with the ' best managed clubs there is ' always, a possibility of. delay '—1111, inquiry, or nil accidcnty or some othpr cause—and this would mean, that if the totalisntor v,-as closed at. the time notified in the official card,; and the dplfiyed rjee wag npt started until srune time after, the . machine wpujcl be closed before the public had started investing to any extent or perhaps at all. This not'only produces heavy loss for the club, but keen disappointment'/to its patrons._ Moreover, when m club once gets behind timo it is difficult to catch it iip again, so that' tins loss and disappointment plight not be confined to any one race. Of course, it can 1)9 argued that the club officials should see that there i? no delay. We are not going to discuss the proa and co,us of the matter. We are dealing with effects, not causes. Tho effect in this case has been that tli'e clubs have omitted altogether, notifying a starting time for, races, and the intention oi the Act has thus been, to a large extent, nullified., There has been some 1 , improvement, 1 probably, inasmuch as the clubs no doubt are stricter in seeing that the totalisator figures are not altered after a rpce, but the new law has not improved the sport as a sport. The clubs now announce that the totalisator will close at a given time, and frequently find it necessary to extend that time, with the result that- there is misunderstanding, such as was experienced at Trentham in the Tongariro Hack Race, and the possibility of confusion in other directions. Another weakness in the Act is the clause relating to the double totalisator. Clause 33 of the Act provides for the abolition of the double totalisator, but on every racecourse of the Dominion, where bookmakers have been admitted, the bookmakers have done big business '' laying doubles." Why I should the clubs be ponalised and the bookmakers escape? There are several other matters arising out of the Gaming Act which require attention, and as a conference of racing elubs' representatives will, meet here this week to discuss the Act in its bearing on the clubs, the questions which have come under notice will no doubt, receive careful consideration. One other subject in relation to the sport is worthy o( menMon. In another column wo publish a statement from, an Auckland sporting writer on the condition of horse-racing in the Auckland province. He revives old and unpleasant rumours of dishonest practices on tho part of jockeys. Whether or not the jockeys are to blame, and whether or not they are the only offenders, need not be discussed. The fact remains that anyone who mixes with a racecourse crowd cannot fail to hoar a good deal of talk about non-triers and crooked running. Much that is heard is the outpourings of irresponsible persons whose opinions are worth nothing, But this is not. a)-, ways the case, and it behoves those at the head of the sport to respond to the demand for closer scrutiny of the racing, and more drastic punishment when dishonesty is detected. We believe that the appointment of two or more qualified stipendiary stewards would have a most wholesome effect,