RACING PERMITS.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue LXVIII, 20 June 1912, Page 2

RACING PERMITS.

anti-gambling' league PROTEST. [By Telegraph—Special to Star.] WELLINGTON, June 19. The following letter has been addressed to the Minister of Internal M. irs:—"Sir,—The Anti-Gambling League views with much apprehension the attempts that are being made byconstant deputations to secure an increase in the number of race days sanctioned for the dominion. The slight reduction effected by. the recent Act by no means met the urgency of the claim for reform. Gambling in these lands is assuming such huge proportions that it threatens the commercial stability, as well as the moral in- ! tegrity of the people. The country I suffers not only from a licensed totalisator, but also from an unlicensed and (in the present condition of legislation) an irresponsible horde of bookmakers. Oar condition both as regards the number of race meetings and the means for gambling compares very unfavorably with that existing in pitker Victoria or New South Wales. There are, we assure you, in this land, great numbers of people who regard the gambling evil, and the existing legislation regarding it, with the utmost apprehension. We do not express any opinion as to the justice of the division iof the recent Commission of the permits among existing clubs, nor do we express any hostility towards a rearrangement of permits on the basis of the present number of race days, but we assure you that any proposal to increase, by however small a number, the race days allowed by the last Act will be met by agitation, and a , storm of protests, that will be felt throughout the land. We cannot believe that any such retrograde step will be suggested by the Ministry or tolerated by the Legislature.—Signed for the Anti-Gambling League of New Zealand —J. G. W. Aitken, president; J. J. North, secretary."