THE ETHICS OF GAMBLING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 21029, 13 November 1931, Page 12

THE ETHICS OF GAMBLING.

Sir.—Tn directing the attention of "B. Definite" to his misuse of the term two-up my intention was not to intervene in an argument so much as to try to persuade "R. Definite" to be definite. I would point out to one. who "has never gambled in his life" that the term two-up does not, include pitch and toss, neither does it include ping pone nor hunt the slipper. The search for definitions of gambling is profitless, and accurately to point out the dividing line between speculative business and gambling is impossible. To buy shares forward before a rise may be. gambling and may be quite moral: to sell shares forward and to spread rumours concerning the stability of the company invested in. with a view to depressing the price, is also gambling and is immoral. The ethics of any action will depend, in part, on the opinions and outlook of the person concerned. It is wrong for a Mohammedan to eat pig—or for "B. Definite" to put a pound on the "tote," Yet I can conceive it possible for "B. Definite" to eat eggs and bacon, or for the Mohammedan to put a pound on the "tote." without doing violence to their own consciences or feeling called upon to engage in mutual recriminations. As a personal explanation I may say that I have not gambled for over 30 years. My corrections of "B. Definite" were based on knowledge gained on the Western diggings in the early 'nineties. It is true that I served overseas for some four years during the war and I wish to assure all who read this that the extravagant tales current about gambling and vice being rampant among men of the New Zealand Expeditionary Forces, "clean diggers being forced to associate with" spielers, etc., is vicious and dishonest propaganda; the members of the New Zealand Forces were the cleanest and best-behaved body of man that, carried a Webb equipment into the Great War. I served as private, N.C.O. and officer and on this matter I can "be definite.". Digger.