FLATMAN'S FLUTTER.

Otago Witness, Issue 2375, 7 September 1899, Page 35

FLATMAN'S FLUTTER.

The Totalisator Gradual Extinction Bill introduced into the House of Representatives by Mr Flatman sought to make it the law that in the year 1900 the totalisatOF li<>pn°e3 should not exceed 117, that the following year 78 should be the^limit, then 39, and that from and after 1903 no licenses should be issued. Mr Flatman had his Bhow last week, and after a few members had said something to the point and others had more or less betrayed then ignorance of the subject the debate was adjourned. In all probability it will not be resumed this session, and I reckon the bill a corpse. The House of Representatives does not, I think, take these reformers' seriously, and they aro not likely to be taken seriously unless the Government gives a lead and makes a measure of this sort a question of policy. Are we to understand, then, -it may be asked, that the existence of the totalisator depends upon the pleasure of the Government? Hardly. If it did, I for one should regard the machine as in peril every hour. Occasional utterances show that the Premier is not too friendly to the totalisator, and that several of the rank and file of the Ministerial following would follow- King Richard into the lobby to-morrow if he asked them to vote away the turf purifier. Nevertheless, even though this be the case, andthough a hostile motion may be expected at any time, I do not fear for the safety of the totalisator, since it stands not by virtue of' Government patronage or legislative approval, but by reason of the sound commonsenso of the people at large. I feel quite sure that if the lotalisator were abolished the public would make a great outcry as soon as they found themselves handed once more to th& tender mercies of a book-making ring, ond that the Legislature would be plainly and promptly instructed to restore the machine, and when it came back it would be on a really secure basis. Having these ideas in my head, I. as a believer in the totalisator, have not the least concern as to the doings in Parliament. The worst that can happen is to give the totalisator greater stability. At the same time the processes necessary to that end would cause a temporr.-y disturbance, and, as that would be inconven'wt and somewhat unpleasant, it is iust as well that reforms like that proposed by Mr Flatman bhould fall by the way.