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Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3270, 24 December 1881, Page 2

The absurdity of supposing that the Gaming and Loteries Act has been passed in the interests of morality is fairly exemplified in the fact that the law, as it stands, will not allow a few private individuals to have between themselves a half-crown sweep on a race meeting, but it permits open bettiug—pure gambling—to the fullest possible extent. People who like to have an interest of a shilling or two in the form of a private sweep on a race are debarred from their harmless amusement, but they are at liberty to have their morals corrupted by contact with the " ring." The same newspapers that publish the report of the prosecution of Sir William Fitzherbert and others for taking part in a half-crown sweepstake, also report the latest quotations of the bettiug market in connection with the Auckland races. The innocent sweepstake is illegal; the roaring betting trade, that includes in its support the fonlesttongued blackguards to be found in the colonies, is a perfectly legitimate business, We wonder whether the new Parliament will contain sufficient sense to sweep a senseless Act from the statute book.