Taranaki Herald. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1910. A BESETTING VICE.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LV, Issue 14139, 19 February 1910, Page 2

Taranaki Herald. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1910. A BESETTING VICE.

Yisitor after visitor to New Zealand is struck with, tlie great amount of gambling wliicli goes on in tlie dominion, tlie latest being the Rev. Mr. AYoollcombe, wlio referred to it in vigorous terms at tlie Theatre Royal last night. As a rule no very groat weight need be attached to the opinions of visitors, who hav,e not been among ns long enough to form a really sound jiulgmeut upon either our virtues or our vices, but with regard to this particular vice the evidences are unfortunately so abundant and striking that he who “runs” from Bluff to. Auckland as fast as the mail trains and steamers will carry him cannot help but read them. They are here, there, and everywhere, and public opinion lias become so callous that there is no attempt to conceal them. It may be argued, and with some force,... that., .the. gambling spirit is necessary/; tsat without it New ■Zealand would not have achieved its present.position, for gambling and speculation are almost synonymous terms, and without speculation! many of our gold mines would never have been developed, oil ■ prospeoting- would not have been undertaken, and other valuable industries would remain uuexploited to-day. But there is legitimate gambling, which may be better called speculative onto: prise, and illegitimate gambling. In the one the speculative spirit is a nieiins to a legitimate end, such as the founding of a new industry; in tho other enterprises, sports, and amusements, perfectly legitimate in themselves, are used for the purposes of gambling. It is quite legitimate and praiseworthy for a man, he can afford it, to venture £IOO or £IOOO or more in boring a hole in the ground in the hope of finding gold, or coal, or oil, which will return him his money tenfold or a -hundredfold. Yet it is a gamble. But it is not so legitimate for a man to gamble in shares on the chance of their rising in the market. It is quite legitimate to match horses to race against each other, and, consistent with the parties being able to afford to lose tlieir money, to back one horse against another, so long as the races are honestly rum. Tho trouble, however, is that mines and horses are so often used as mere counters in a huge gambling game, a game played too often unfairly. There are too many cheats about, and the worst feature of the whole business is that they are tolerated by public opinion. In ordinarily respectable circles the cheat at cards is ostracised; no self-respecting player .will play with him. On the Stock Exchanges and the racecourses he is tolerated, played witli, because those who tolerate him and play, with him hope to make money, indifferent as to whether it is made honestly or dishonestly. A man who “salted” a mine would be execrated, yet it is quite a common thing for returns and prospects to he used and manipulated for the purpose of enabling those “in the know” to make money at the expense

of an unsuspecting public, and the practice seldom meets with condemnation at the hands of public opinion. It is not an uncommon thing, and every racing man knows it, for the results of races to be arranged beforehand for the sole purpose of making money at the expense of a foolish and confiding public, and it is a bad sign that the public allow themselves to be beaten by this means so unconcernedly. They accept it as part of the game, hoping on some occasion to be able to “get on” to one of these good things. It is a bad sign because the public—meaning, of course, that section which goes a-racing or follows the sport—have tacitly become partners in illegitimate gambling transactions and to that extent have become illicit gamblers themselves. They would not play cards with a cheat, but are willing to play the racing game with men who are no better than cheats. That is the deplorable feature of our gambling propensities, and it is difficult to find a way of correcting it. The law has permitted, or at any rate has not prevented it, our racecourses to be infested with the scum of society, and it is just as difficult to rub shoulders and have dealings, even indirectly, with these gentry, as it is to touch pitch without becoming defiled. The best hope of checking the spread of this deplorable feature of colonial life lies in touching the public conscience, and this may be accomplished by sucb men as Mr. Woollcombe where a familiar preacher fails.