MR LANG'S BOMBSHELL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22565, 8 May 1935, Page 10

MR LANG'S BOMBSHELL

APPEAL TO BASER ELEMENTS (From Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, May 1. The Leader of the State Labour Party (Mr J. T. Lang) has sprung a surprise in the State election campaign by attacking the Stevens Government for its " wowser " element. " Wowser " is a purely Australian word of contempt and ridicule for a person who would eliminate the pleasures of an average man's life—his drinks, his bets, his bathing in costumes that enable him to sunburn most of his body, his occasional State lottery ticket. The Stevens Government certainly has shown itself susceptible to the influences of church leaders and other people who like to think that they save people from themselves. It has, for instance, evolved a standard bathing costume to prevent over-much baring of the human form on the beaches. It has been particularly active in combating starting-price betting and after-hours drinking. It has abolished the shilling share syndicates in the State lottery, but the lottery itself has been left untouched. All that the Stevens Government has done has been to insist on observance of the laws. Mr Lang is attacking it because it has simply done things to make people observe the laws. Yet Mr Lang, in full-page advertisements, is urging electors to vote Labour because " Mrs Grundy has returned under Stevens," and because the Stevens Government "has designed a new bathing costume, abolished shilling shares in the lottery and prohibited bigger prizes, treats the small bettor as a criminal, intends to prosecute you for smoking in restaurants, and raids hotels after hours, but allows the fashionable clubs to go free."

It is probably the most surprising thing that has ever happened in a New South Wales election for a party leader thus frankly to appeal to the baser elements among electors. The move may sweep a few unthinking youthful voters of both sexes into Mr Lang's net, but if the non-Labour parties capitalise this plank of the Lang platform they should win many' votes, including some of Mr Lang's own adherents. Mr Lang has used the word " wowser " in . more than one of his campaign speeches, and thereby has earned the resentment of temperance workers and others. He has also indicated that he will license starting-price betting shops. Mr Lang is no friend of the Australian Jockey Club and other racing clubs, which he regards as " vested interests " and therefore fair game for a Labour politician. If he licensed betting shopß, he would not only obtain a substantial revenue, but also hit his enemies. South Australia has had licensed betting shops for nearly a year, and opinion in Adelaide, based on experience, is that if Mr Lang follows suit, a boom in State revenue can be expected", but at great cost to the racing clubs and the peace of mind of his party. Taxation on betting, most of which takes place off the course, is proving such a prolific source of revenue to South Australia that it may soon be the means of bridging the gap between deficit and balanced Budget. The elaborate system of indoor meetings provided by betting shops with up-to-minute betting quotations and a broadcast running description, is robbing the clubs of patrons. The present yield from the operations of licensed bookmakers is at the rate of £130,00.0 a year for the Government and £30,000 a year for the racing clubs, which are collectively losing that much in reduced totalisator receipts and attendances. As all this money comes originally from the pockets of punters it is clear that the South Australian Government finds in gambling instincts a lucrative source of taxation. With lioensed betting coming into operation soon on coursing and with improving economic conditions, it is probable that within a year or two the Government's rake-off from gambling will be about £250,000 a year. It is officially estimated that already bets are being laid at the rate of 10,000,000 a year. South Australia now has 400 bookmakers, with 290 betting shops and 33 branch agencies, and about 1400 clerks are employed by the bookmakers. According to the chairman of the Betting Control Board (Mr J. J. Jelley), licensed betting has eradicated many evils formerly associated with illicit betting.