TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIV, Issue 108, 2 November 1907, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Undoubtedly the Premier will get moro praibe than blamo for the Restricting Bill which ho has introGambling. duced to amend the GaminK and Lotteries Act. Reformers, who have often pointed to the ■ ovib which have flourished under j the present law, will hope that no amii able, aimless "spirit of compromise" I will extract most of the shot from the gun v Inch tho Government has so nicely loaded. In another article the Post will exhaustively criticise the new nieaj sure, but in the meantime it ia sufficient to commend tho Government lor its desire to fulfil its own promises and to respect tho opinions of souml-thiiiiung men, from tho Ulviof Justice, downward,-, who havo dearly wen that the pri«s.snt laws va-io not 'htrong enough to keep (he gambling mania under control. Practically the Bill's object is U> o'jjifino betting to tho rare-course, find keep it there within proper bounds. The telegraph office is not to be used to help 10 improve (ho breed of horses. The totalisator is to have a fair run and nothing more. Drastic provision is m.wJo to prevent the bookmaker from plying his railing m -the "slreet" (which has a very wide definition), sports grounds, or anywhere ehe. This social parasite is indeed in for 1 an unpleasant time, if the Government has its way. A comprehensive, schome is also set out for the elimination of "tote shops," iwoup schools, aid other institutions of tho kind. A suggestion thrown out by the Post at the timo of tho last "two-up" laid h.is a place m the Bill ; the owner „(}£ sub-lessee of .premisss is made lublej

for the respectability of the house. Mo more will the city behold the farce of a two-up school running flagrantly for weeks, with the full knowledge of the police, handicapped by a weak law. Persons who wager wall juveniles will court, a penalty of £100. Altogether, the Bill does much towards making a crooked path straight. Our crusade plants the anti-gambling banner a little A Cold Woild for higher on the Gamblers. wills of New Jerusalem ; and hotting Turks me gazing -uneasily at each other andf murmuring ''Wheie next*" It looks as if tho Old Fellow's occupation will soon be pone — as far as concerns the tout and the tipster, the public sweep, and the private "tote,"' and all the train of loafers and blacklegs that infe&t the coulisses of SpoTt. New South Wales has dono almost as much to limifc gambling rice as our new Bill ; and the result has been certainly good. A Arholo cohort of gambling parasites have been driven sadly to Work — detestable word! — or to oxile from the happy hunting-grounds of Rosehill and Kensington, and the baser purlieus of Sydney city. And with their banishment have disappeared many of the spoitsman's temptations to sin beyond his means or beyond his knowledge, many of -the snares s-et by idle rascality for too-confiding youth. The Commonwealth . Government has made things still more unpleasant by refusing to deliver letters to the veTy nicest bookmakers, and -even tho beloved "TattersilPs" has been put in quandary. There is nothing to do but commend. Possibly a limited amount of betting is <t safety-valve for the community's surplus steam in carnival-time ; probably it would not pay to end all our pleasant vices at one legislative blow, and set weak humanity in tho way of worse -substitutes for the old ills. But at all events we can do something to cleanse the dirty backyards of Sport, and watch effects in the hope of piesently doing more. Even farmers and millers will hardly have reasonable causs Wringing tho for complaint against "Rings." the Flour and Other P r oducts Monopoly Prevention Bill which was brought down lnsfc night. When Mr. Hoag 'submitted his Abolition of Flour Duty Bill there was natuially a storm' of opposition, for the measure was much too drastic ; it was a case of prevention being woiso than cuTe. ' The present Bill is gTaced with a spirit of sweet reasonableness. If passed, it may not be of much benefit to the poor man at present, for other countries have not wheat to~~spare for New Zealand, but is some safeguard against business persons' unfair exploitations of the maTket during normal times. The measui-3 provides for tlie appointment of a. Court of Arbitration — on which producing and consuming interests will bo represented, "which will decide when circumstances warrant tho suspension of thb duty on flour and potatoes. Tho general aim is to defeat the machinations of individuals who aim at securing "unreasonably high" prices for staple foods. It is a sword suspended over the head of the unscrupulous ring-master. It is an endeavour to prevent "cornerers" from getting "something for nothing," a.t the public expense. The Bill is shrewdly framed. It cannot be objected thai the pTopospls will check any legitimate industry; they will merely protect the people against •'jobbery," if not robbery. Yesterday the most successful show that the Manawatu A. The and P. Society has ever Manawatu conducted came to a Show. concluaion. To - day tho stock will be driven or trucked away, the sideshows will fold up their tents and disappear like the morning mists, there will bo no more barking of dogs, crowing of chanticleers, lowing of cattle — until the a ? I \ i ?~ crsa - rlr comes again in the course or tho seasons, and Manawatu is once more en fete. The Manawatu Show is not merely an A. and P. Show ; it is an institution, waxing in popularity year by year, and gathering to tho common rendezvous representative* from all classes and all occupations in the community. At Palmerston, on People's Day afc the show, may be seen a genuine- microcosm of the Dominion — a little world in itself. Hero are our sons of tho soil, a real and independent yeomanry, such as used to bo Britain's pride, but is now a glorious memory, for the reality has long departed. City pessimists need only go to Palmerston and see tho show to shed all their doubts as to the tuturo of the country. In no part of the world will you behold such a spectacle of universal prosperity and contentment. Bronzed farmers in ridingbreeches, and their buxom wives, with chubby-cheeked children in tow, minglo with the throng of fashion, or walk among tho shocp and cattle, viewing all with a pleasant air of satisfaction. Then the displays of horsemanship, the parade of prize-stock, the exhibition of machinery, tho work of the public schools, the object-lessons in all our industries — these are characteristic of the Dominion, and are nowhere seen to belter advantage than at the Palmerston Show. Sir George Sydenham Clarke, lately Governor of Victoria A Magistral and now LieutenantOpinion. Governor of Bengal, is in the star class of British public officials. For long he has bnen considered one of tho highest authorities upon Imperial defence. Prooably no keener brains than his were over inducted to an Australian governorship, and in Victoria he was esteemed highly. He was too good a man for the post, in fact, and the inference seemed fair that ho came as an Imperial scout. In view of the assistance given by Australians in Africa, (he War Office apparently wanted to know how far Australiansentiment would go — whether, for example, regular . levies of troops could be made for foreign service ; and it looked as if Sir Geoi'ge Clarke, analyst and critic, with the literary gift of making reports, had "been sent to apply an expert mind to the facts. He returned to England to sit on Lord Esher's committee of three on army matTers, afterwards taking his present post. When such a mo,n thinks the present situation in Bengal might easily become very serious, and urges tho Central Government to prevent .violent speaking and writing likely to rouse the natives against, the British, ho gives point to a great deal that has bren said lately legarrlmg India. His •judgment is the "best oflicial judgment obtainable. If tho Justice Department does justice to the residents of Rona Roughs B:iy and tho orderly city at people who lilw to fcppiid Rona Bay. a week end across tho water, it will station a constable at Eastbourne during tho summer months. Island Bay , too, should not bo left without poiice protection. Eastbourne, however, has promlenco. in tho need of some safeguard against hoodlumism. Most of the youths and men who decide to stay from Saturday till Monday across the bay have soni? respect for the decencies : others think that their condescension in patronising the popular eea-sido resort gives thorn a license to make themsehes a general nuisance. They present themselves with the "freedom of Day's : L.Bax." and. Atmta iis ehiuiie-fuHy.,. Cal- [j

low youths, fuddled by "shandies," also make themselves obnoxious at times on the late boat on Saturday nights. They might be less disposed to indulge in disgusting behaviour if they realised that 'they might walk into the arms of a. policeman as soon as they stepped ashore. The small expense required for the installation of a constable would ba a trilie compared -with the great comfort that would accrue both to the permanent inhabitants of tho watering place and visitors. The need of a constable hns 'been repeatedly impressed on the department. The arguments aro so convincing that the authorities surely cannot ignore them.