THE GAMBLING ACT.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 183, 28 April 1908, Page 5

THE GAMBLING ACT.

"PRESENT CONDITION OF BETTING BUSINESSES:." . PAPER BY THE REV, J. J. NORTH. / The Rev. J. J. North, who is a leader of tho - anti-gambling crusado in Wellington, read a paper on' tho Gambling Act of last session, at tho meeting of tho Council of Churches last night. Mr. North stated that this Act had a motto: "Tho restriction of betting to raoe-courses." Tho question of the success of tho Act was one that was ripo for review. Ho proposed, in addition to reviewing its immediate consequences, to indicate points that urgently heeded legislative correction. That something roal had been done by the Act, tho most pessimistic raco club president would admit. THE NEWSPAPERS. So far as he could judge, tho newspapers had been tho chief instruments in bettering the alarming condition of things that prevailed up to last year. , The suppression of tho'publication of betting rates and of dividends had checked betting. No sano man dreamed that it would do more than check it. Willis Street : and tho Quay wore not blocked oh raco days by men craning their necks to read dividends of races occurring at tho North Cape or at Stewart Island, nor was tho procession of a betting minority of .tho crowd to the nearest bookmaker's office "any more to be seen. 1 The race clubs had lost the advertisement, which big dividends gavo them, and those who favoured tote odd betting had to take peculiar risks. Tho dividends had to be'learned by wires,-sent by "bookies" on the course to "bookies" in the city. The accuracy of the telegram and of, tho man who sent the telegram had tO|be taken for granted. Those risks wero taken by some of the hopefuls, on whom the "bookie" lived. The racing crowd were laughing the other week at the following coup'-—A bookmaker got.a wire through with unoxampled celerity, and knew the winner in a late race a long while before the average man could know. His touts met "punters" as they left work, and advised them that the horse which ran third was a sure thing. The clerks of the "bookie" were handy, and booked heavily on tho loser, to tho great mirth of tho cute pencillers. The risks of tote odds betting, under existing circumstances, wero so grc-nt that it might bo regarded as a negligible quantity. If the Government wished finally, to kill it; let them suppress betting wires. Thoir Bill had not cost them, a cent yet. They had shed the blood of tho newspapers. - Let them, contribute to a result, which they had oompelled | tho newspapers to so largely produce, and shed some of their own blood in the shape of telegraph revenue. THE BOOKMAKERS. Tho mcst debated clause of the Act was that relating to bookmakers and thoir reputation. Tho genesis of ' Clause 35 was still ' shn>wd«l iir mystery. Sir Joseph Ward made it' a-sino qui noil of his Bill. Its adoption (by a majority of ono, as it turned out) was' the absolute condition of, tho Government proceeding with the legislation. Why did Sir Joseph license bookmakers ? Personally, he spreferred to accept as a working hypothesis, and as ono conveying least offence, the idea that the clause was intended as a consolation to men who had been tolerated since the be>ginning of racing in . this ' land, and whose city, operations tho Act proposed to stifle. ; ; CITY BETTING. Had the- Act stifled city betting businesses and so justified Clause 35?. Were the bookmakers quiescent save on racecourses to which they wero duly licensed? Nono'but tho green would believe: it. They used the public streets for £hcir practice just as'if no' Gaming Act existed. The day after its passage, indeed, they issued cards to - their clients intimating "business as usual." A careful survey of the men falways to be found in Wiilis Street' yielded interesting results. The following comedy was transacted under official eyes ovcry day: A certain; individual on the street was' stopped by a man who handed him money. Ho pocketed it, and strolled into certain, premises in\ tho vicinity/ and pencilled in. his note'book, and'then resumed his stroll; One of tho bookmakers had quiotly reopened his office in a right of way in. tho centre of the . City. Another frequented a leading hotel, and was visited there by his clients. The police had not .secured a single conviction. Sir. Joseph's policy o£-c'ons6ling the bookmaker for tho of his city business.-had -failed,' for the city business proceeded. The police would either have to be stimulated to act on their present powers, or their powers would have to be extended, and power of arrest given for persistent loitering.- The present law had a quarantine clause. Tho quarantining of ccrtain promises in tho City would be. a sensational proceeding,, but with'things as they were it was on the cards. ' ... CLUB STATEMENTS. The racing clubs professed great (hostility to the presence of. the bookmakers on their courses. A great .deal of their talk was mere froth. For instance the president of tho Manawatu Racing Club recently railed at tho Act of 1907, and specially at the bookmakers' clause. , He exhausted himself in denunciation of the " bookie," yet his own club men,» at the recent meeting, strolled . round the " bookie " ring and planted, bets 'with the, men thoir president was stigmatising. • It was the same on every course. Unless this paper gave too great prominence to • tho custom, prominent Wellington Racing Club men' would be seen at it at Trentham. this week. Tho club men had always been the main resource, of bookmakers. If tho Racing Conference had any real conscience oii the bookmakers' clause, it would disqualify - any race club member who had i any _ dealings with pencillers on' the course or in tho City. - No class in the community could havo a keener dislike of bookmakers than the ministers. But they had an equally keen dislike for hypocrisies, and they ventured-to say that racing club hostility to bookmakers was the morest bunkum, and that .apart from club support tho bookmaking business would' be half paralysed. Let it be noted that bookmakers had been handicapped by this Act to tho tune-of, say, £4000 a year; It cost that in fees to follow the business. Ho was assured that very few pencillers could stand the strain, and some "wore, " broke." It was safe to say that if this. city business were killed (as it must-be by tho Ward programme), and if racing clubs were,consistently hostile, thera would bo precious few of these men-applying for licenses a year hence.: '■ THE INIQUITOUS TOTE." At the present time there were two conflicting ', interests on tho racecourse—the "bookie", and ( the machine. The,machine wanted the favourite to win. Tho " bookie',' wanted-the outsiders first.' ' If a favourite won, the totalisator money was widely scattered among the crowd, and in consequence they were 1 able to invest ' A succession of wins by outsiders at the beginning I of a raco mooting spelt disaster to a club from the point of view of volume of invest-j ment. The clubs had therefore taken steps to avert the calamity. , . THE DOUBLE DIVIDEND. Their plan, was the double dividend. The clubs did not care. twopence for tho public welfare. They openly, rejoiced at tho.upleap of investments on the machine, though it was the despair of editors, politicians, and moralists. Thoir method of , scooping the pockets of tho betting crowd and stimulating fresh investment on the maohine was by the payment of a second dividend. By tho payment'of dividends on two horses the.moneys invested on a race wero scattered far moro widely than they could be by-a single dividend system. This dodse for stimulating betting was inaugurated in 1901, and it was frankly admitted by racing men whom lie had spoken to on the subject that it very, materially increased their revenues. The suppression by law of this spur to undue.gambling was a thing to aim . at. "A SNEAK MACHINE." ' But the. totalisator was breeding sneaks, and the opposition to it ought to bo nourished. Racing men were afraid to invest because the bookies" would take the tip. One of thorn boastod that he did not use the iftaehiaoj, Bis reacoa .was ihat he dared auk,

The " snort of kings " was honeycombed with sneak practices. Independent' judgments on horses were seldom formed. Racing men either used bookmakers, which. wis their common practice, or they rushed to tlio machine just -on closing time, when it was too late for their example to he imitated. This was, of course, an eminently British, proceeding. They had another reason for- avoiding the machine, and that was that their big bets would spoil the dividend. They therefore lot the fool public feed the machine, which they publicly extolled, and in'real fact ignored. He had evidence that- credit betting. on the machine was still flourishing. Since the exposure of last yoar blank 1.0. U. forms were issued. Bo lipid- a book issued by a club'at its' last meeting, and used up by the sportsman who the credit. Credit betting on the machine ought to be abolished. ARE CLUBS DISINTERESTED? The promoter of a local proprietary club, Mr. North, continued, had interviewed him anont the situation, and urged the point that while proprietary clubs frankly pocketed the profits of their meetings, ordinary race clubs did so in a roundabout way.' By Conference law, clubs were-required to devote totalisator_ profits and stakes and Rate and other receipts to tho ground. Now, who swept up tho stakes? Well, tho largest local stable was owned by Wellington Racing Club men. Club men owned nearly every stable in the country. Who, then, received the profits of ordinary race meetings? Those race club members who kept stables, per cent, in some two million pounds went into their pockets last year. Yet this was disinterested racing. PROPRIETARY RACING. The emergence of the proprietary club, and of a stupid form of racing called pony racing, required very urgent action. If proprietary clubs once . got a footing in. Now Zealand, and if the profits of racing becamo an ordinary commercial venture, tho evils from which wo suffered would be multiplied. Sir Joseph Ward would surely- deliver the land from this invasion. The local pony club suddenly doubled Wellington raco days, and gathered a company of persons whom it licensed. The main defect in tho law. was that it had no provision limiting tho-number of race days within a given centro of the population. Tho Australian Acts all provided for this. Tlicro were parts of tho Colony where racecourses were as thick as weeds. Tho Racing Conference was too weak or too timid to-intervene. What , the Racing Conference could not, or would not do, tho Stato must do. The suppression of non-totalisator clubs, arid, the restriction of totalisator clubs, together with the pro : hibition of proprietary racing, .were points that should bo vehemently urged oil the. Government. j MOTION BY THE COUNCIL. The Chairman (the Rev. W. J., Williams) said that' Mr. North had-contributed a very valuablo paper, and he was glad that these facts /would bo mado known to the people through the Press. . MOTION, BY THE COUNCIL. The Rev. J. Gibson Smith said the thought that, Mr. North- should - receive t-ho gratitude of the whole community. He would not do so, but tho Council should assure him that: they thoroughly appreciated the stand that he had taken. Tho 1 great thing for them to do' was to,.offer suggestions to the Government for amending .legislation. Mr. North, might summarise for them the points that should bo, met. The Rev. C. Porter moved'that a depu-tation-wait -upon the. - Premier -to urge amending-.legislation.- upon lines ■to be formulated; by, fc. .North. . , The'motion was seconded by Mr. Purdio, and adopted unanimously. A voto of thanks to Mr- North was passed with acclamation.