THE GAMBLING SPIRIT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16434, 10 January 1917, Page 9

THE GAMBLING SPIRIT.

MOTION AT PRESBYTERY.

INCREASE DEPRECATED.

STATE ACTION URGED.

I the recent racing carnival in Aucklan i formed a subject discussed at last night' ' meeting of the Auckland Presbytery. Th i Rev. A. Miller, of Edendale, convener ( ' the Committee of Public Morals, move the following resolution :— "The Presbytery of Auckland note . with much regret the growth of the gamb ing spirit in the Auckland evi , denced by the totalisator returns. In th ! judgment of the presbytery it is a distinc reproach to the people of the Auckland dig ' trict that at the recent Christmas and Not ' Year race meetings so large a sum a £330,061 should have been passed througl [ the totalisator in seven days, constitutin, ; a record for New Zealand. When our Era ! pire is engaged in so terrible a war, th need for the most rigid economy i strongly emphasised, and when s< • many homes are desolate and sc ' many hearts are sore because O the ravages of war, the noise and ex ; citement attendant upon race meeting ! must be regarded as incongruous. Th ' presbytery would, therefore, urge th ' Government to take immediate and effec tive steps to check gambling in connec 1 tion with racing and trotting, even to th' ! extent of suspending all totalisator permit i during the course of the war." I Mr. A. J. Entrican, in seconding th' motion, said that many people in Nev Zealand appeared to find it difficult fc , realise that there was a state of war exist ! ing. As horse-racing seemed inseparable 1 from gambling, in order to check gamblinj it might bo desirable that racing shouli bo stopped during the war. It was no , enough that everyone should "do his bit' : towards ending the war. Everyom should do his utmost, and thus assist to wards the saving of thousands of lives and of millions of pounds. It was urgently j desirable that gambling should be stopped "And not only gambling," conclude! Mr. Entrican, amid applause, "but over evil thing." Mr. S. J. Harbutt supported the resolu tion in similar terms, and after a littl further discussion, the motion was carriei unanimously. A copy of the resolution is to bo for warded to the Ministers for Defence am Internal Affairs.