The Sun TUESDAY, APRIL 27, 1915. FIGHTING FOR THE TOTALISATOR

Sun (Christchurch), Volume II, Issue 378, 27 April 1915, Page 6

The Sun TUESDAY, APRIL 27, 1915. FIGHTING FOR THE TOTALISATOR

It is reported from Melbourne that the Victorian Bailways Union, at a conference, passed a resolution in favour of the totalisator, iu the interests of charity. The Victorian railwaymen have expressed an opinion that is fairly general outside interested circles* and one that is steadily growing in the two most important States of the Commonwealth —the States in which all previous efforts to instal the automatic oddslayer have signally failed. In Victoria and New South Wales the two leading racing centres of Australasia, the Ring continues to flourish as it flourished in days long before the great and late lamented Carbine galloped through all records and into the hearts of the extensive racing public (*t Australia. Scores of bookmakers of all 'financial' shapes and sizes operate with Melbourne and Sydney as their radius. The biggest men are the;possessors of much wealth, to which golden pinnacle I they have been assisted by a speculative , public, which is forced to take what odds the operators offer, or leave them'. The annual turnover of any one of these magnates of the Ring must aggregate a huge sum; the profits are enormousj since '.-[the risks; run are.: reduced to a minimum by the impudently clever making of the book. There are smaller (financially speaking) members of this flourishing ; institution,-;and for t,h£ privilege of conducting this remark*ably lucrative calling a merely nominal license fee is ; paid. That so few individuals should -have such a monopoly when an alternative like the totalisator presents itself has appealed" to intelligent ipeople, jn , both. Victoria; and , -New South Wales as farcical. New Zealand provides a splendid illustration of what the machine really can do for the racing public, while at the same time producing a healthy, revenue for charity. So impressed was the Xew South Wales i Government with the possibilities of j the machine that a' Commission was ap- j pointed to have a: lookat it in working ' order. The Commission had a gaja time in the-vP^imoff,.-returned home with its evidence, and—the . bookmaker is still, the only ; medium through which the New* South Wales sporting crowds can back their fancies. Sinister rumours were afloat as to a zealous campaign by the Ring when the Commission prepared its finding, and -when the matter was discussed in Parliament. In fact, there was the possibility at one stage of the Holman-Meagher quarrel, of pretty revelations being made at short notice, but when Mr Holman wavered at tearing aside the veil his opponent dared him more tauntingly, with the result that the secret still remains with the politicians named and j the caucus —from the latter nothing is hidden. Mr Holman, as Premier 'of the mother State, refuses to father a Totali- j sator Bill, and the advocates of' the j machine in Victoria are experiencing a like difficulty; the Government there will take no responsibility. It is not difficult to arrive at an explanation of this timorousness. One reason is that many well-intentioned, but entirely misguided, church people are horrified at the thought ipf legalised gambling, i.e., the institution of the totalisator, forgetting that in licensing bookmakers the State is, but in a slightly different way, legalising betting. Another factor, and probably the most important of all, is the '*' propaganda work"—the quotation marks are necessary—carried out by the bookmakers themselves. Though ! a majority of the Victoria Racing Club —the chiefest racing body in Australasia—are in favour of ■ the. machine, and, with them, many | of the leading trainers, still the i machine is-banned from Victorian! courses. The Ring, defiant because of ! its subterranean influences, goes on j its way rejoicing, daring an enlightened i public opinion, which is growing in- j creasingly strong, to do its worst. That day will yet dawn. The totalisator has | all tiie advantages to its credit, and j since we must have gambling, let it j lie (as in New Zealand) under! Government supervision, and in a' form which lacks the vicious in- ! fiuences that follow in the wake of the j booUniaking fraternity where the lat- | ter has become insolent and ethically j unclean from lack of wholesome coin- j petition. I