THE Inangahua Times. PUBLISHED TRT-WBEKIiY. MONDAY, JULY 16, 1877.

Inangahua Times, Volume IV, Issue 42, 16 July 1877, Page 2

THE Inangahua Times. PUBLISHED TRT-WBEKIiY. MONDAY, JULY 16, 1877.

Somewhere about seventeen thousand pounds is the very modest sum which the public, chiefly of the West Coast, is invited to invest in art unions and I sweepstakes upon the forthcoming 'Melbourne Cup race. This 'sweep' iepidemic may now Be said to have ■attained the crowning point, for as- ' suredly "no further than ttiis can it be possible for it to go. We bbserv'e that the Ohrisfcchurch. papers have been ex. ercising themselves rather freely upon tlje subject ; nor is it to '6b at' ail wondered; that surprise should be felt at the extent; to which this huge public folly hari now' been carried. Is the prosperity of the West Coast such at the present times, that its inhabitants can justly afford to squander such ad enormous sum in, tbid, at ,the best, very doubtful description of gaming ? The answer, we hayd no' hesitation whatever in saying, 'must' be in the negative. Up to the present time the Press on the West Coast has hot sl;own any ./marked hostility towards this, gigaritic gambling craze,' but' on the contrary not a few of the 1 papers have actualjy warmed up to it with a kind of sympathetic zeal. It may be, however, that tbe mania had not .then grown to its present proportions, for as it is now presented we do not know that itcan be too warmly denounced. So long as the scope of the evil remained within ljmits, as was the case to within the last twelve or' eighteen months, there was no occasion to take serious objection "to 16, but it has unfortunately happened that the public" has been educated up "to such a' keen relish for this form of speculation that Ihe'evil has now outrun all decent proportions, and imposed an iron necessity for some immediatp legislative action to check its progre^. In the early days of this sweepstakiog on the West Coast the investment was chiefly confined to a class who- could well afford to deal in the

luxury, but by degrees^the seduction has spread, and now the money of the wealthy .and needy alike is poured into the lucky bag, and amongst the warmest patrons of these mammoth .sweeps^are those perhaps least able to afford' the expense. In regarding thevmat|er in ;. this light we go wholly upbl= th^pre-* * sumption that the lotteries-are evenly '* and honestly conducted. s'■5 '■ Whether they are or are not so, is not now for us to argue. The main question with us now is as to their demoralising tendency 5 and this demoralisation is not by any mean's restricted to the mere direct investments, for it is. .no» torious that in nearly all those publichouses in which these " grand ", events are got up gangs of card players nightly assemble, and play for tickets in the sweep. "While the sweepstakes were " respectably conducted " this latter phase was wanting, but competition in sweepstakes, like competition in everything else, drives men to extreme shifts occasionally, and this is one of them. Last session legislation upon the subject was promised, but owing partly to the press of business and other causes the matter' was stfelve'd ; but if' there was necessity for legislation upon the m'iatfce?' last Session, how much mbresois the'r^ndwwfren' thenumber'o'fthese sweeps- 'Iks 5 ' multiplied tetifold ? and the growing disposition of the people is to " lay up "■ to them with all the zest that Chinamen do to their tabooed '' fan-tan." it would be advisable to legalise these sweeps within moderate bounds, and grant licenses to persons of repute to conduct them is^ a matter perhaps worthy of some consideration, but one thing is certain — that this unhealthy gambling spirit is now strongly rooted amongst the population, and is running riot over numerous obligations of private life, and unless curbed or entirely prohibited by legislation will be productive of very bad results.