THE EUCHRE MENACE.

Thames Star, Volume LXII, Issue 17414, 31 August 1928, Page 4

THE EUCHRE MENACE.

'Commenting facetiously on the above subject, the Lyttelton Times says it will not be astonished if shortly the Minister of Justice offers 'a substantial reward for the solution of the “euchre .party” problem. It twits the ..authorities with calling away the police, particularly in Christchurch, from the less serious duties of protecting property and tracking down burglars in order to banish the curse of euchre from our land. Our contemporary gathers further, from its correspondence columns, that there are at least two subtle motives move on the part of the authorities. The first is to replenish the depleted Treasury by t'he collection .of fines; ■as everyone knows that the incometax collections have fallen heavily, and that the burden of interest on the National Debt is growing fast with every new mile of political railway taken in hand, this looks to he a quite feasible explanation. The second motive is much more subtle. It is to keep t'he working classes, from which the devotees of euchre are chiefly drawn, in 'a state of unrest, and so to lead them into strifes and agitations which, in turn, will provide an occasion and an excuse for a general reduction of wages. Some such explanation as this has to be advanced, adds the Times, to supplement the first, because if the only motive were to replenish the Treasury the Government would have moived against bridge drives, and poker and hazard schools, which arc, it is informed, frequented by the wealthier classes and higher social orders.