THE VICE OF BETTING.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXIII, Issue 13716, 5 April 1905, Page 6

THE VICE OF BETTING.

The vice oi betting must have reached very serious dimensions indeed in Australia to justify the remarks that were made by Mr Justice Bring in passing .sentence upon the unfortunate man Slattery for the misappropriation of trust money. Betting on horse-racing, his Honor said, was responsible for more crime than any other vice that afflicted the community. Slattery, an ex;M:.nister of tho Crown, had attributed his fall to gambling, not, apparently, with any hope of obtaining a mitigation of his punishment, and tho Judge took the opportunity to read the public a very wholesome lesson on the ovil that was rampant in their midst. It has been stated' that Australia has

more racing and more betting in proportion to its population than any other country in the world, and if we may credit the reports that reach us from time to time the prevalence of gambling is rapidly undermining the moral fibre of the whole people. They are ready to speculate upon anything, from mining shares to Chinese, lottery tickets, and it is scarcely possible, to take up a Sydney or Melbourne newspaper without reading of some deplorable result of the national madness. Sufc Mr Justice Pring’s. words are not without their meaning to the people of New Zealand. In this colony the Legislature has taken upon itself to regulate the vice, and has deliberately made it a source of public revenue. Betting here is respectable, almost patriotic, and as a consequence it has doubled and trebled in volume during the past twenty years. The totaiisator, which was introduced for the purpose of getting rid of the bookmaker and improving the character of the racing, has only multiplied the amount of gambling and largely increased the number of meetings. It has such' a hold upon the community now that members of Parliament, with a fen; honourable exceptions, are afraid to advocate its abolition, and Ministers are openly reminded of the advantages they may obtain by looking after the interests of the racing clubs. Perhaps the vice has not yet reached in New Zealand the dimensions'it has assumed in Australia, but our own Chief Justice has ‘used words quite as emphatic as those employed by Mr Justice Pring, and our criminal records . show that there is real cause for alarm. The evil, as everyone knows, does not stop with the amount invested in the machine. Every visitor to a racecourse is exposed to the fascinations of gambling, and when ho has once acquired the habit he will find other means than horses for pursuing his folly.