THE GAMBLING QUESTION

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 19, 17 July 1911, Page 4

THE GAMBLING QUESTION

ATTACKED BY THE CHURCHES. There was a large congregation at the Queen Street Primitive Methodist Church last night, when the Rev. K. Liddell preached on the subject of "The loeal press in iU attitude towards Tattersail's colossal gambling system." The preacher took for his text, Exodus xx., 17, "Thou shalt not covet anything that is thy neighbor's." After giving an exposition of the text, Mr. Liddell went on to say: "My address is called forth to-night by the leading articles that have appeared in the local papers, commenting upon the ease of a gambler who was fined £2 recently in Christchurch for betting through that colossal gambling institution known as 'TattersallV I believe it to be

ETIUCALLY WRONG, because it is invariably the expression of covetousness, and covetousness is condemned as an evil thing both by the law of God and the general concensus of human opinion. I will not attempt a definition of gambling, but indicate some of the distinctive marks of a gambling transaction. First, in a gambling trans" action there was a mutual effort of two or more persons lo obtain one another's goods or money. Then this effort was conducted on a game of chance. But the chief characteristic of the business is that it is an effort of one or more persons to £et possession of the goiods of others without giving an adequate, equivalent in return. DEGRADATION" OK SPORT.

"While we have gambling in connection with other things in New Zealand we find it i? most pronounced in connection with sport. Some of the finest pastimes are being degraded by the prevalence of this social cancer. Horseracing is responsible for gambling in two of its worst forms, viz., Tattersall's and the Totalisator. As far as Tattersall's is concerned, I happen to have a knowledge, having lived where it to-day flourishes, and having known the promoter of the system, the late Geo. Adams."

Mr. Liddell then gave a brief history of the system saying: "About 28 years agp, in the city of Sydney, George Adams startled the sporting world by launching into existence a lottery. It was precisely on a similar basis to all gambling, appealing as it did to the selfishness and self-interest of humanity. The growth of the institution was soon recognised as being ftiimieal to the peace and domestic life of the individual. After much agitation it was finally hounded out of New South Wales. Adams then went to Victoria, where he met with a similar fate. West. Australia refused to accept it. South Australia got tired of it. Queensland tried it, but the working men united and drove the system from the States. In 1596. Tattersall's went to Tasmania. To help the State out of its financial troubles Adams was allowed to foist on that State one of the worst vices of humanity. The result has been that it ha? cursed the community, throttled the press, and turned llobart into a modern Monte Carlo. Certainly it added £,>0,000 per annum to the revenue, but if the amount was ten times as much it would not compensate for the injury it does. National character is the best asset of a nation, and it is not worth debasing the character of the community for £30.000 per annum. AN OUTLAWED INSTITUTION. "Tattersall's has been outlawed by the Federal Government, so some time ago placed it on the 'Black List.' It has aIHO beep. outlawed by the New Zealand Government. No person is lawfully permitted to send money to Tattersall's. The Post Office is not to be used for this purpose. It was for a breach of this law that the man was gned in Christchurch a few days ago." The preacher proceeded: "In commenting on the case the Taranaki Daily News gave such a leader which should bo a revelation to the law-abiding citizens of this Dominion. The article lays a very serious charge against the police, and is a scathing indictment of lax police administration, which is moreover charged with being parties to the breaking of our laws. Now, the success of cvilisation depends upon adequate law, but law is useless unless it is observed; so the nation has not only made law, but created a huge department to see that it is observed. The private citizen is not allowed to enforce law, even though he were injured. History shows that where there has been lax administration of law the way lias been opened to countless abuses. Law is not for the lawabiding but for the lawless. Between the lawless and the law-abiding the police department was supposed to stand like a solid wall, and they themselves must be above reproach as far as law and order is concerned.

THE POLICE CRITICISED. "But what do we llnd? According to the Press: 'The police themselves put their little bit on.' Lax administration means partnership in crime. A department that will not enforce law is in league with the law-breaker, with the thief, the gambler, for the criminal is helped and the honest man disregarded If the members of the police force will not do their duty, then the sooner llicv are replaced by men who will the better it will be for this Dominion. If the Police Commissioner will not see the law is carried into effect, l| loll 1, 0 ml „ ht to bp relegated to the ranks of private life. If he knows these things are so. then his inaction shows ..ither his supineness 01 his deliberate partnership with the law-breaker.-'

THE POST OFFrCK AXD fiAMBLTXCI. "Then the Post Oflico is party to this system." says the Xews. 'We k n0 \v, the pollen know, the Department knows that, thousands 0 f money-orders arc sent from Aew Zealand to Tnttersall's.' If that is so, said the preacher, "it is a deplorable condition of things in the face of our *cw Zealand legislation. It is nonsense to say: 'Society is prepared to condone and tolerate it.' We do not condone these breaches :of our law, From hunareas of pulpits ring out protests, luiii(lreds of our public men denounce it, imt the community is helpless. ''Who is to blame for all (l«i»?" asked Mr. Liddell. The men at the head of the departments, the Minister of Justice, tile 11 osi master-General, the Commissioner of I olice, and the community is forced to "ait until these ollicials choose to do the work for which they are handsomely paid."

'lt is the business of the Police Department not to regulate but; to hunt out crime and drive it awav, to root out every gambling ] lP ||, „n<l end the scandalous business of partnership with Tattersall's gambling system." Mr. Liddell concluded liy saying: f'Heenuse gambling is 10 rife.' because I believe it to be the curse of Australia and New /calami, and is degrading the national morals, because it is a crime against brotherhood and against religion and tends to demoralise those who participate in it. I raise niy protest against il and ask all to discountenance it." The sermon was forcefully delivered, and listened, to with rnptattentlon.

AT WHITELEY CHURCH. THE PRINTIPLIToF GAMBLING. There was n large congregation at the Whiteley Memorial Church last night when the Rev. J. W. Burton took as the subject of his discourse, "(Jumbling." The text was taken from Avts iv., 10: "'Whether it be right." The speaker said that the question had been raised in the local press as to whether gambling in itself whs really wrong. There was no doubt that the excessive indulgence in the habit, was baneful, but it was almost taken for granted that the principle itself was not, radically evil. He made no apology for dealing with a subject such as this from the Christian pulpit and quoted a boy's letter, written to the Bishop of .Southwell, and published in the London Times, in which the hoy urged that the clergy should help them in the great temptation that assailed them in the matter of gambling. The speaker went on to note the immensity of the evil. Statistics proved very little, and showed only one phase of the evil. The totalisator,' Tattersall's sweeps, and "Premium Bonds" were among the more respectable forms. To these might be added the tremendous amount of private gambling. It might be said that there was chance in almost everything. This w.w true, but the progress of immunity look the line of trying to eliminate change. Modern science, whether in commerce or in physics, sought to reduce chance to eertainty, and therefore gambling was a harking back to less evolved mt>(.hodf,--While tlfe evil'effects of over-indiflgence, continued the ppeaker,; were admitted UV a", little was said about the essentiAl wrongness of the aqt. , » The question was: "Is gambling really wrong?" A pregnant passage from Herbert Spencer, in which gambling was shown to be anti-social and therefore unethical was quoted, but that line of argument did not bring the fullest conviction to every mind. It would be conceded that all action to be moral must be controlled by the will and reason. The transference of property, whether a threepenny piece or £3000," was an action. and must be so regulated. To give, to sell, or even to steal were all actions which could be judged ethically, for the will and reason determined them; but in the act of gambling there was a suppression of the will and of the reason, and, said the speaker, herein was the intrinsic wrongness—it was the denial of reason to control action.

Mr. Burton then went on to illustrate tlie effects of gambling, viewed from thi* standpoint, on individuals, showing how there was produced a tendency towards deceit, a hardening of the conscience, and an ultimate predisposition towards insanity, and gambling was thus correctly termed a mania. He also referred to it* effects on social life. It was destroying true sport, weakening honest effort,'sapping intellectual life, and militating against true social progress. In conclusion,, he said: "Our attitude as Christian men ought to be one of uncompromising resistance to <mnibliii» in every form, for the sake of others even more than for our own. No power in the universe ought to stand between the will and the action."