WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Greymouth Evening Star, 23 July 1918, Page 6

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

(Our Own CervoHuoridMKl THE COUSTS DIFFER. MAGISTRATES* AND JUDGES. WELLINGTON, July 19. The Stipendiary Magistrates and the Sureihe Court Judges ale not in agreement upon several eases that, have lately attracted 'much attention in Wellington. The Magistrate recorded convictions in the notorious Kelburn ease, in the alleged light-weight butter earn, and in the gambling on licensed premipns ease. The public,' ignorant of the law nnd apparently o ? the merits of the cases, warnilv onrjJauded thesp decisions, and Wellington plumed itself: u.t>on having developed the superior conscience. But how the Supreme Court has asserted its ( maje&ty amh quashed the convictions, holding that the Magis- „ trate was wrong and that, the defendants must go free. The zeal of the city,for putting its house in order, as it imagined, has been sadly damped. BETTING NOT "GAMBLING.* The only 'consolation that re* mains to the ardent reformers is that they have an authoritative pronouncement to the effect that betting on horse racing* is not gambling within the meaning of the Licensing Act. The Chief Justice, Sir Robert .Stout r has .consulted Webster's and Murray's Dictionaries and has discover that their definition of gambling does rot include bettimrf. Cnllnouially we talk of laym.o- and taking the odds ns * ."-ambling, but really it is onlv betli"o\ nnd if we gave the word n w-der. application wo should roiuW the mm who speexdates <m +]ifv Stock Exchange ,or buys land for n rise, subject to grnrp nnd The law ti«dv""s a subt-lp thin"', o i? on moro diffi""lt to understand than it is to obpy. iixiLilAiti (JAMPS. j Xlio message sunt iu the Minister oi oy me v> anganui brlinch 01 me lie turned, xibSuciaUoiij btaung tiiat tnu uunfccientiuua oojocluiu in uio jjoicution i>airacKs axe better treated than llie men in Lamp, i,as given ritoo in some quarters to an impression that a large number of the men in training are dissatis- . Jied with their conditions at Tren tham and Featherstoii. -As far as can l;e gathered from personal enquiries at both places this'is very far from being the case, and the rneii themselves suggest that the Wanganiii returned soldiers made the comparison merely to emphasise their opinion that thecon-