LOTTERIES CONDEMNED

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19149, 15 October 1925, Page 12

LOTTERIES CONDEMNED

HARM FU L TO COM M U NITY. BAPTISTS' STRONG VIEWS, "MENDACITY 'AND DEPRAVITY/ "Certain new and menacing features have been introduced to New Zealand. Lotteries in every conntry are occasions of widespread degradation. Their history has been one long repetition of mendacity and depravity." In these words tho Rev. J. J. North voiced objection at the Baptist Conference yesterday to the practice of holding lotteries. Mr. North said the matter v.-as one of considerable public and local interest. It could have, escaped nobody's notice that there had been a deluge of lotteries in the past few months. A Member: Shame! Continuing, Mr. North said he did not know what demon possessed the Minister for Internal Affairs when he began to issue permits for the holding of lotteries, for prizes from £3OOO to £SOOO, on a Dominion-wide scale. They were propagated in a most lavish and expensive' manner. The recently expressed intention of the Minister to interpose was a righteous awakening after a lamentable sleep. The Minister had not wakened too soon, and even yet lie had not fully realised the position. The small lottery was just as harmful, as the large one. The .Rev. J. Carlisle said there were other lotteries sanctioned about which ho thought they had a right to ask how permission was granted without legal investigation. He cited a case in which two pictures whose market value was about 2s 6d each were raffled, the proviso being made by the Minister that the value ol the tickets sold shordd not exceed £75. Mr. 11. H. Driver said it was a matter of regret that so many of the Church community were purchasing tickets, and so many churches lending aid to this nefarious method of raising money. It was a difficult matter for them to enter protests while they were cognisant ol: these facts. The Rev. C. W. Dnncnmb said he would like it understood that no lotteries were being conducted in their denomination. « A strongly-worded resolution, carried with applause, condemned lotteries as harmful in their influence upon the community.