INCITEMENTS TO BETTING.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5655, 28 August 1896, Page 5 (Supplement)

INCITEMENTS TO BETTING.

It seems that our parliamentary correspondent, . who reported last week that Mr Charles Lewis had made an effective speech in the House of Representatives in favour of Mr W. Hutchison's Eestraint of Incitements to Betting or Wagering Bill, entirely misapprehended the attitude taken up by the junior member for Christchurch towards this extremely drastic measure. Mr Lewis's remarks were intended, we now understand, to show the utter impracticability of some of Mr Hutchison's proposals. The Bill provides, among other things, that any person who invites another to make a wager shall be liable to a fine of ,£IOO or imprisonment^ for three mouths, and that the editor of any newspaper that publishes any " tip " or betting odds shall be liable to a fine of £20 or imprisonment for one month. This is scarcely the kind of legislation that is likely to receive the support of an ardent advocate of individual liberty, aud we can only suppose that our correspondent was misled by Mr Lewis's ironical suggestion that the Bill should be treated as one qf urgency, and passed through all its stages at once, instead of being reta||ed<in the Order Paper for further dirapssion. At any rate, we are assured, on the very best authority, that the member for Christchurch is wholly opposed to the extreme proposals of the measure, and that he has no wish to add fresh terrors to the thorny path of the speculator and the journalist.