DRAGGING DOWN TIMARU!

Timaru Herald, Volume XCVIII, Issue 18029, 18 January 1923, Page 6

DRAGGING DOWN TIMARU!

In our correspondence columns to-day, is a letter from an esteemed correspondent on the subject of gambling. In the past, Mr J. S. Young* has written to us on the subject of prohibition, and he has been allowed to have his say, the merits of which it is not necessary to discuss at present. To-day, however, he takes a different turn, and talks of the evils of the chocolate wheel, inferring that the Carnival was discreditable to the business men who took part, and suggesting that Mr E. D. Mosley, S.M., was far too lenient in inflicting the heavy fine of £2O on Mr G. ■S. Cray, and the fines of £2 each on the other offenders against the Gaming Act. All gambling is terrible, he says. False—logically he infers: Book-making is gambling. The Chocolate Wheel is gambling. Therefore, Bookmaking is the Chocolate Wheel or The Chocolate Wheel is as pernicious as Bookmaking. The tone of the letter suggests that Mr Cray and his followers deliberately went out of their way to ruin the morals of the young people of Timaru; to lead them gently by the hand down the wide path that leads to Avernus; generally to corrupt the town. He infers that the “Herald” should not have commented in favour of Mr Cray, or have shown how ambiguous are portions of the Gaming Act; and that such comment was not helping to inculcate a hatred ox gambling in the community. He may say what he likes—--the ambiguity and unfairness of the law stands; the fact remains that the names of gentlemen of high repute are classified in the Police Gazette with' those of criminals. Possibly—only possibly, of course —Mr Young might not have wished to have helped the Ba> through the ohocolate wheel and the surprise packet, with its cigars and its cakes of soap, and its packets of hairpins. Possibly —only possibly—he might not have wished to work hard for such an excellent object as beautifying the Bay. But he must not forget this: The gentlemen he seeks to criticise worked day and night to help Timaru.