PLAGUE SPOT IN THE SUN.

Temuka Leader, Issue 7569, 23 May 1914, Page 3

PLAGUE SPOT IN THE SUN.

S DBTER R A NEAN CRIME OF MONTE CAR LO. Ever an<l anon, with the advent oi a “sensational” Monto Carlo crime, the Fairy Principality comes in for criticism of tlu> fiercest nature. “Tho Thieves Kitchen of Europe,” shrieks Mr. Hall Caine; “tho suppression of Monte Carlo would prove a nobler work for humanity than anything to bo got out ol tho Hague Peace Conference.” insists Mr. Max Pemberton ; “a blot on our civilisa-t-ou” ; “lot tho Powers buy up tho sinning Prince of Manaco” ; beneath the splendour of the Casino there runs a common sewer of cosmopolitan vice and crime”; “a canker worm, a plague spot,” echo lesser lights. "A more .foyloss spot for a holiday has yet to be found,” they might have added. The solution is so simple, you will say—- “ Don’t go there.” The man who has played roulette and lost is better qualified to give an answer than i (writes M. Ferdinand Tuohy). The pr.esent generation seems bent on infusing a little more fun into life; the closing down of Monte Carlo would accelerate such an excellent policy. To laugh there is sacrilege. frowns and wrinkles arc do Rigucr. And tho worst of it is, not one visitor in a hundred really wants to gamble. “1 must,” he will tell you. By a stroke of the pen—-if there are a people in Europe who could bo brought up to-morrow, those are Monaco’s lo,00(> —the Powers could transform Europe’s most magical beauty spot into tho Fairy Principality it was originally created. Whyf.suppose that Monte Carlo could cease to attract once bereft of its gambling rooms? . I firmly believe the Casino has kept more wise people away from Monaco than it has attracted fools.

THE ABOLITION OF THE CASINO is perhaps a big order. There is a halfway house. Far stricter supervision should bo kept on “all ye who enter here.” No one should be allowed to gamble at Monte Carlo unless known to possess a minimum income of, say,£sooo a year. Tim happy man thus placed deserves to lose all ho has if he is such a fool as to risk it. The kind of gambler who should bo weeded out relentlessly is the man who has got to win. The present inquisition at the Casino, under which a Prime Minister. Lord Salisbury, was turned away, is farcical. Profession P Age? Married? Nationality? Why bother about all that when money is the one. tiro only thing that matters in the great human drama of Monte Carlo? Ink by the fathom lias gone in depicting the tense, perpetual tragedy associated with this colossal enterprise of pure chance, which brings in a sure profit of £2,000.000 annually. One or two characteristic incidents came to the writer’s notice last week. One evening a girl not more than eighteen descended the Casino steps, walked across to the Cafo do Paris—it was aperitif time —and sat down beside an elderly lady. A minute later tbo latter startled us by shouting in French, “This girl has tried to snatch my purse!’’ The culprit was bundled mil of the place and probably dumped down over the Italian frontier that same night, with her fare home paid, and enough for food on the journey. The Casino authorities, when they have all your money, are fearfully generous. There must be no scandal at Monte Cailo. Hush ! That is the motto of Monaco. And seeing that the Fairy Principality seethes in the season with , the worst crooks and adventuresses in Europe, things need some hushing up. It is said that more people vanish at Monte Carlo than in Paris. 10,000 PER CENT. INTEREST. All this hidden crime goes on, remember, amid a population denser than that of any city in the world, save Pekin. At the present moment 15,000 residents, 5000 waiters, and 15,000 visitors are roughly crammed on to three square miles. Needless to say. none of the residents may gamble. They might lose their money. It is, generally difficult to enthuse over a resort where the authorities wink at 10,000 per cent, interest being extracted by usurers; where they allow money to lie lent by the hour, where pawnbrokers by tire dozen arc dotted round the town. If there is one spot this side of the Styx where 'pawnbrokers should be prohibited, surely that place is Monto Carlo? The show of jewellery and personal belongings of victims on view in the main street is disgraceful. Again, animal lovers shrink in horror at the massacre of pigeons on the terrace each morning. No worse than grouse shooting at home? I’ve never beard of pheasants Hying wounded out to sea and bein'; drowned in their death agony. If there is one spot in Europe which does not, deserve a place in the sun. you have it in the Fairy Principality.