THE GAMBLING HOUSE OF EUROPE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2504, 19 March 1902, Page 65

THE GAMBLING HOUSE OF EUROPE.

It is a stiangi- comment nn the moral progress* o£ the uoild that p»ih.ips the most pro&pei-jus little State in Kmope at the beginning of the twentieth century exists in deiiance of all morality. Fifty year* ago two nun opened a gambling 100 m in Monaco ; to-day the gambling "runs" the State, pays its taxes>. makes ith roid«. ?uppoits its- lights its> .street-, builds up it ihuitii-. nett>> its- palaces, fe' d3 its Prince, am'- . iido-.rs its c.itliedial ' Sure'\. suite the woild bewail, no Suite c\ cr had >utl' .111 infamous 'ourco of piospeuty at, the State of Monaco has 111 ihe '" Anonymous Company of Se;i Ts.it li^ and Sti.tiigtis' Club," uhiui «c cull Monte Cai 10. Tlieie is, it ought to be said, one sa\ ing vntue 111 the .s3'.--teni which allows a State to depend ou a gambling hell. Tne people of Monaco have the good sense not to gamble themselves, and no citi/en. save on one day a year, may inter the Ca-mo " It men fiom other lands, with m"re money than biaina, choose to lose their biains and leave their money in Monaco. ' the native aigument seems to run, " we have nothing to do with it. At Uast w-e will 11 <c thpir money well, and wash our hands of the channel thiough which it comes [1 is ,«11 veiv sad, says the moralist, but —it pays. How completely the spiiit of ihe Ca-ino mles Moiuco most people know Time was when the counteis used at the tab! r s weie accepted outs.de as money, but the circulation was .stopped when he wa j found that the rouoters lud doubled in mimlici oul-ide the Casino, .md tint a gang of faKe eoin.i.s were making them as fast as they eou'd at La Tuibie. The whol*' State Las grown rich since (he ganibleis came, and not the Kta.e only, but tho coast foi a hundred miles round. Sandy soil worth £5 an acre, 50 nuk's- from Monaco, has realised £2000 an acie in 30 years ; the two hotels 111 the State have multiplied by 24, and as against three jcwellci« and 17 wine merchants 20 years ago. there are to-day 15 jewellei.s and 85 ■n me merchants.. A thousand people are kept in legular woik at the Caniiio itself, and honest folJi who live by honest means have grown rich in spite of themsp'ves through the umjikable development of the State. The people pay neither ia.to nor taxes and. compared ■w ith the condition of Monaco 50 yea is. ago, Monte Cailo, if it h.is become a "ambling hell, has bec'jme, too, a iramlilmir paia-di-e. The gamb'er« found the St.ite >1 1 a drj)l(.iabic coiitl.tion. uid the soil w is r\.i'.'v

suited for the itccption of tlr- s« 1 1 l)'.\ , uciu iowitiii. A handled and hiii uiv-'ii one

night sat down to a banquet, with a Prina. among them, and the Casino was begun. Francois Blanc, the Napoleon of gam* blinjr, found the walls half-built, and, in a hurried note, offered the Prince 1.700,000 fi ancs for the unfinished Casino and all its privileges. . I must have his answer at once, as I am leaving to-morrow," belaid, and the answer came back quickly. It was " Yes." The Frenchman completed the handsome birlding, made his fortune, and then died. His widow withdrew from the gambling business with many millions of fiancs.

The Ca=iiio was handed over to a company with an enormous cipifaL and the gentle Prince renewed the concession for tha modest consideration of £1000 a week, with an extra trifle of £20.000 a year to keep up his body guaid. — St. James": (Jazette.