A DESERTED CITY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume L, Issue 15252, 15 March 1913, Page 5 (Supplement)

A DESERTED CITY.

Property-owners in San Francisco have started a crusade for the removal of restrictions on gambling. Owing to the stringency with which anti-gambling regulations have been put into force in that city during :tho past two years gambling and lottery houses have abandoned their quarters and moved over the bay to Oakland, a spot famous for its race meetings. Over £100,000 a year in rents has been " lost to propertyowners owing to this exodus. Many palatial buildings are standing empty, , and cannot be satisfactorily let because it is found that merchants and businses ■ men will only.pay rents equivalent to one- ; fifth of the sums that gambling-house proprietors can well afford to pay. The owners see with dismay Oakland developing into a flourishing town, with prosperous businesses and street improvements that put those of San Francisco in the shade. - All this the discontented ones say is due to the gamblers. "Oakland gets street improvements easily," said a San Francisco merchant. Once a month , the police raid ' the gambling houses, and each man arrested is bailed.' out for £2. They never show up again, and the money is . forfeited to the city treasury. The city gets a tremendous amount in this way, and a large part of it goes in street improvements. When-. ever the city needs more money the police can raid the gambling houses once a * week.