LOTTERY OF THE MILLIONS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXIX, Issue 10779, 30 May 1911, Page 6

LOTTERY OF THE MILLIONS.

HOW A GREAT FRENCH PLAN WAS PREPARED. '■■ ■ Although there are no State lotteries in France, such, for example, as the great Hungarian lottery, drawn every two mouths, there have always been] a number of minor drawings, authorised bv the Government, in aid of charities supposed to be deserving. The' charities in "favor of which lotteries were created were always private ones, but "recognised as being for the public good," and at first there was little-fault to be found with the manner in which, thev-were managed. Later, however, unscrupulous individuals, and small charities quite incapable of seeing a big lottery through, succeeded by personal influence in high places in obtaining authorisation' to start lotteries. The case of Sister Candide is one among many which : showed the danger of entrusting the riot too easy' task'of engineering a lottery to inexperienced and unbusinesslike.hands.;i ;•-: ; L.i:.---At the beginning tickets were really taken for the sake of charity, by-.charit-able persons, banks, and "large business houses; hut the great success that.at-, tended the first lotteries led to such a. multiplication, and such wide advensement, that the general public soon began to take some interest in them and buy the tickets, which were -.usually sold at a franc or less, on the chance of ; drawiiig a large prize. Agencies naturally followed, and .speculated, in the tickets, 'and gradually abuses of all sorts crept in. , . If only the public who .'spent thenodd francs in buying tickets had been the sufferers the evil would not have been so-great, but.n't-.frequently hap-; pended that through carelessness" or 'deception by professional. tr.aders, the, charity organisations which, patronised. > the lotteries and were responsible for them were unable -to meet ; their-.-lia-bilities, and when the day came for the drawing to take place found that theyhad not sufficient funds to pay thai prize: list in the event of all the prizes falling to tickets that had gone out of their possession. The drawings then had to be put off from month to .month, to"/-thesf great j: dissatisfaction of the .public, <grid?£njaliy' it often .happened' that the promoters were/compelled to confess that theilolt-; lerVivas a.failure and thiat'there-would.f be no-drawing. The result was eminently ; damaging to ' the;' particular charity in fault, and, .moreover,_to all charities and.to. .the spirit. of/benefieentl donation, and the Government decided to step in-. r-.n .'- ' ~•-.-' ■; -.-.; : ,ij :'i Last year it ' was-found thaf'there" were some five of six large lotteries tlia't. had heen got .up.for. -.orphanages; for consumption hospitals, etc., which were quite unable to meet their engagements after repeatedly deferring' their drawing. , . . Under-these circumstances M. Bnand called upon several-of the leading bankr ing establishments,i-siich as the ' Credit Algerien; the Credit',. Foncier,,y and all the great establishments of £aris, <So; ask tliem to come to the They replied that it was impossible to deal with a number of separate lotteries, but proposed to group all-the de-. faulters together, and ,-make on hitge lottery, with: many- substantial prizes, for the payment of which money would be deposited with the Credit Foncier, who took charge'of:the drawings. The; result was the lottery known as 'the' "Lottery of - the .Millions/", from. thero being' several first prizes of a million francs, Or £40,000, each. These were drawn every two months, .up ,ip. December, ilii'd all file millions, together with 1 numbers of smaller but still respectable sums,, were won by the public. It was curious to note, meaJeoyer, that in each case th,e w.hiner-. ; a-'.very humble, rank of investment of- a lou.is,"- of lesy.* suddenly brought him or her 7 a ? «m'all•-fortune'. In one instance the prize went .toiva ticket shared by two men, and in another to a man who, to oblige a friend, had bought the ticket ..from-, hinr, and whoi with' great generosity, insisted on giving away* a large ishai'e of the'million foanos'itoi theibriginal holder.. :.'•■ , u.\:-■■ •'The capital of the whole Jottery~,was no •■' less.-' than £3,11Qi.000, of :which £1,220,000 was draYvh last 'year;- and about half paid-in prizes.- left over,, representing. 1,-737,500 tickets, to be drawn this year, out of wliich more than £680,000 will- go in prizes and- the 'rest, to the .charities, after deducting the commission's and expenses of the. responsible, ibanks. ,"i .n;> > '■' One of M. Briand's last Ministerial acts was the settlement of' this question, and when the lottery has been drawn it is. doubtful if authorisations will'be again-obtained^by private charities for if, seyeral. can agani. group together;.-, and. place, themselves in the hands' of "the' great "hanks. "