THE ANTS-GAMBLERS AGAIN.

NZ Truth, Issue 111, 3 August 1907, Page 1

THE ANTS-GAMBLERS AGAIN.

Yet once again Kas -the good old Anti-Gambling League raised its hoary head and uttered its cry of horror at the sinfulness of the wicked person who tries to back winners and pick the double. The Premier was fceseiged by a number of these well-mean-ing cranks on Tuesday last, and, judging )by his reply to many absurd requests, he merely tolerated their impudence with a patience begotten of man 7 trials. Anti-gam Wing deputations and similar annoyances are, things that a Premier must look upon as inevitable ; they come into his life as 'naturally as measles or whooping-cough come into the nursery. There always hias been, and probably will b 3, certain unbalanced mental freaks m the community who want. to run the world on a> plan mappod out by their otvn littl-e 1 trains. These are the sort of people who form themselves into anti - gamblinc leagues, Christian endeavor societies, foreign missions, and like institutions. In their methods anftHhieir-16---gic they are just as unreasonable s-n-'J unjust as the mob whoCyelle'd for the crucifixion of Christ. Th-ey object to something they themselves are power Jess to prevent, so they appeal unto Caesar with the cry, "Crucify Him ! Crucify Him !" They., have a grievance (an imaginary grievance) against a certain class of people and) they object to the particular way m which that-class finds its pleasure. To think that anybody should find pleasure m anything outside their own little sphere of frivolity, which mostIv consists of- hymn-singing and teaswigging, gives them the greatest pain, or- • they -pretend it does, and therefor-e they would invoke the aid of the Grown to make such pleasures criminal- offences. In older countries 1-hese Fort of people are not taken seriously- and are given no hearins at •alii, butin-ihis country, where so much experimental legislature is brought down to placate parties, the wowser- -and- the bigot get an attention that reflects the greatest discredit on "the Ministry. Had Sir Joseph Ward tcld ■ Tuesday's deputation to run away and play and not bother its poor' brains .about things it.: didriH nnderstnn tV, - ■ he would' have gained the respect of every right-thinking man m the community.

Or oorarstV "Truth's" old friend, the Rev. 'J. J. North, was .very much to the fore— he always is when there is any prospect of a free advertisement and a chance to Ret before the puolic. North had quite a lot to say on the gambling question. He expressed the gratification of the lieague at the manner m which "the feovernment Bill of last year smote the. ''two-up" joint and private club amusements, which .they classed uhtler the category, of "outside gamb- : lin?," .but they were disappointed that the Bill did not contain a provision for the abolition of the totalisatpr; Ho pointed out that the total investments on the infernal machine had increased irom £1,500,000' last year to £1,800,000,, and there was reason to assume that by the close of this year, the investments would exceed £2,000,000. He spoke m strong condemnation of the double tote, which paid out £19 on Haydn and Seaman, and characterised it as a system of reckless gambling which was exactly on a par with Tatt ? s sweeo:?- The average dividend paid try the double machine exceeded £100 (wherein North exhibited his ignorance of the subject). The principal clubs were now furnishing a special tote entrance for women, so that the wiser and better side of our race (hear, hear) might be captured by the evil of gambling. (Meek clerical applause.) They were taught that vice Should not be made easy, but should Be made hard, but they found the Government making it easy for the gambler, and they felt that the exis;BSße& of a legalised gambling machine Hfce the total isator would make the Government's attacks on otlier forms of gambling look like, hypocrisy. Another, objectiona We thing was a proposal m the bill of last year to Increase the revenue from the vice by the. imposition of another 1 per cent, tax on the amount handled by the machine. Tn Tasmania, the creation of the gambling power had faced tfie Government with the alternative of "'Tatt's or Taxes," and the Government of this country would find themselves m the same bondage. The devotion of Ihe tax to a local object such as the aged and sick seemed to present a caste of peculiar evil, for ithe different centres would- be told Ithat if they required a good hospital

tfosy must l>et, and such ; an incentive would bean impetus to gambling. At present the gamMing public was without protection, and by giving its countenance to. the vice, the Government might find it encumbent upon it to appoint inspectors to scrutinise the gambling machine, as had been found necessary m Tasmania. A grave defect m the Bill of last year was the omission to deal with newspapers, as was now done m Australia. In the Commonwealth the evil was the publication o-fc-^s, here it was the publication of dividends, which was responsible for the investment with bookmakers of millions sterling every year m all parts of the country outside of the centre where the races were beins 'held ; and the Government was doing the arithmetic for the gamblers. The cry of "the freedom of the press" was raised, and he acknowledged that such freedom should be guarded ; but already it had been infringed m respect to another matter that ; he could riot mention m a mixed gathering, although every paper m the colony except one had taken heed of the Government Prohibition. The Government had granted 302 tbtalisator permits last year, but there were 157 unlicensed clubs, and the licensed clubs allowed their members to race their horses at the meetings: of the unregistered clubs. It was urged by the Racing, Club people that if the Government tax on the totalisator were increased to 2£ per cent., the . revenue should be devoted to the; cultivation of horse flesh ; but North pointed out that racing encouraged the breeding of the wron^ sort of horse flesh.

How cheerfully North pattered out this drivel too. He talks of the liberty of the press, and then asks that the Government shall restrict the press from publishing news that is read by thousands. There are more people read the racing reports after a meeting like the one just passed than there are attend the whole of the churches m Wellington put together. And yet North has the unblushing impudence to put himself up as a censor, and demand that the Government shall introduce a law prohibiting the publication, of -such news. As an instance of how great an' interest the public take m racing news the case of the Perth "Morning Herald" may .be cited. About three years ago the amiable cranks who ran that particular daily paid heed to just such a deputation as waited upon the Premier, and decided m the interests of public morality to cease publishing any- racing news whatsoever. .- The public appreciated the change to such an extent that .the paper's sales dropped to almost nil. . After a few months' trial the proprietors came to the conclusion that the duty of a newspaper is :to cater for all classes of the community, and not for one small section. Sheldon, another weird crank, set out to run a newspaper as he. presumed Christ would have run it if he had been on earth. That paper had a short life and far from, a merry one. 'A newspaper must give the people news or it ceases to be a newspaper and becomes a class journal. J. J. North and his push are at liberty to start an VAnti-Gamblinp; Gazette" if they like, m which they can publish or suppress as they please, but when they ask the Premier of the colony to give his support to legislation suppressing legitimate news, they are only demonstrating their own ignorance and advocating their bigotry and intolerence.

Let it not be supposed for an instant, that m taking, up this attitude, "Truth" advocates or defends gambling. Gambling may be indulged m to such an extent as to be an appaling sin. Gambling m any form ; is economically bad. The gambler is essentially a non-producer, and the non-producer is a parasite. The professional gambler ' is, therefore, a pest, but there are degrees of gambling. There are thousands who, after a week's hard work, find relaxation and pleasure- m a game of chance. An unhealthy . pleasure, we admit ; but at the present time there has been no substitute invented to take its place. The great mass of the public must have recreation. Some— very few— get it m Band of Hope meetings and tea fights, others on the race-course, and so long as they are not breaking the law and are spending their own money they are at perfect liberty|?|q take their 'pleasures as they pleasei^ithout interference from the. 'Rev: .J. J. North, or any other meddling priest.

If the said J. 'J, were successful j m prohibiting this particular class | of popular amusement, what does he purpose, to give- the people in~Tt"s ! stead. It is very certain that he i can't provide anything that will fill' the bill, or any of the others who arc squealing with him. It is only reasonable to presume then that when deprived of one sport they will look about for something of a similar nature to fill the blank. What they would find it is difficult to say, hut the chances are that it would be very much worse than horse-racing. Notth and the whole Puritanical push have been grinding, away at all kinds of popular pleasure since the days of Cromwell, v and they are no nearer , their goal to-day than they were then, Why don't they forget their , conceit for a while, and show a little of that Christian tolerance they preach so much about by allowing others the right to think for themselves.