A KELSON GAMBLING HELL.

Observer, Volume 9, Issue 524, 5 January 1889, Page 3

A KELSON GAMBLING HELL.

' Victim r writes me from Nelson as follows :— - ! ' Your paper has a good circulation in Nelson, j and I feel sure that ten tunes as many people read your OnstjiVKH as subscribe, for it is a continual ease of passing on from one to another. Very mean, of course, but nevertheless true. As you are always ready to expose abuses, and put a stop to same if possible, 1 desire to draw your attention to a most serious evil in our midst, namely, gambling. In most of the hotel?, in the town gambling in every shape aiift form is indulged in quite openly, and allowed : in a certain shaving saloon it is a common thing for gambling to go o;i all night ion?, especially on Saturday nights, when ihe thing is continued till sometime-;- ;"> or <» o'clock on Sunday morning. It would r;ot matter so lnueli if the ire- j quenter.s of this gambling hell or similar places t could aiVord to play, but the fact is about ninetenths of. them are in debt ;ill over the town, and some of them-— sad to relate— are married men, and allow {heir wives and children to want even the common necessaries of. life. My excuse for writing yon on tin's subject is that L am a considerable sullerer by this sort of thing, inasmuch as several o£ these young fellows owe me money, and I can get no satisfaction from them. Last Saturday night, late. I noticed three individuals go into the shop and remain sher* 1 . when the doors weie locked for the night. On tho following Monday i interviewed two out of tho three, endeavouring to obtain my money, when one impertinently told me he could not pay me and that (i I could uo my damnedest. 1 ' If, therefore, you would use your powerful pen and strive to biing about a healthier moral tone, you would be doing ii most decided benefit to Skepy Hollow.' rnhnppi'y. Nal^tn is not tho only place in which this sort of tiling U going on. In every town throughout the colony, gambling hells arcto be found, where young n»on and boys nightly squander the money that should go to their wives or parent's, i am happy T o say that, the O::si:i:vk» has b:.'C-n the means of breaking up several notorious ' hr-lh- ' in Auckland, and I trust that ' Victim's ' letter may open the eye? of iht! Nelson police and set them on the track of this precious place, whose habiluus arc tleeeecl of the money which in man)- cases is not theirs to risk, but that rf their long .suffering tradespeople. Come, wake up, Mr Inspector, and find out the whereabouts of this 'shaving saloon.' You should have small difficulty in spotting the place rei'encd to. — t-