BETTING FACILITIES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16845, 22 September 1922, Page 6

BETTING FACILITIES.

TELEGRAMS TO RACECOURSES.

DISCUSSION BY MEMBERS.

(Special to the t( Star.*'\ WELLINGTON, September 21. When the House of Representatives considered the Post and Telegraph Amendment Bill to-night, a subject completely foreign to the provisions ol : the measure overshadowed all other things. Mr Glenn CRangitikei) had given notice of his intention to move in committee the .following Amendment : “ Notwithstanding anything in any other Act tot-lie contrary, telegrams relating to investment on the tatolisator, may he delivered at any racecourse or elsewhere if addressed to the secretary of the Racing Club under control of which -any race meeting is being held.” Mr L. M. Isitt (Cliristchurch North'), was the first to refer to the subject of the amendment. He spoke very strongly against enacting any such proposal. There was no need he said to enlarge the facilities for gambling. It was not a question of encouraging or discouraging the sport in the attitude he was taking up. He was sure that ho had the Prime Minister with him.

3lr Glenn: “Yr-u have not, and T will prove it to you." Mr [sill said that. if the amendment was. im'ludml in HlO Bill it would open up evwry )‘urn in llu‘ Dominion For hot,ting‘ murmur-s, “ml in Hume timvs ‘w-lwn thrift WM I‘l('('osfiul')'. :11l extrusion. of betting fnmlitkw slmulrl he donut-d lu tlyv pmmlo. Mr “’iLLy (Rincarlnn) mmportm‘l (.110 proposal mu‘l saul that it, would moan grmitly increased revonun to the T‘nxml 'Dl‘nurlment which wnu conninly in "00d of any invroused rovonut‘. 'l‘lm (lovvruiul‘nt wn< shurl nf 4':lHl’l and if the people Hunted to send u, tele—gram to a rzivm-oursn or :mywlwro else. why not. nllmr tht‘m to do so. lf the (Hoaming-Br‘uufm‘d (lm‘l harl taken plm'o in Nov: Zonlnnd. hundreds of ponpln \Vlin Hove-r lmd hot on n, harm"race would have desired to bark their fanryr. yet under the law ".3 it stnml a 1) prnm:lll-‘ theywmild not have been able in do sounlewtlieylmd I'm-en on. that course. Some penple appeared to forget that Ovel'ylmrly‘ did not agree with their vimvs. Tf a. man desimd to have a bet on :1 horse ran." he should not bu‘ *pn'éveuted by a man who dirl not want. to bet. Mr )[cLend (“'ziirarapa), said that he was sure that Mr lsitb Was not so silr‘plo as to believe that there was no gambling now off the racecourse. Wholesale gambling was being carried on by the very Worst 0133 s of bookmakers who sought out. the. workers in the factories and elsewhere. Of course there were some very reputable bookmakers. He knew that. Memlxars: “ Where are they ?” Mr McLeod: “‘Vell they were reputable bookmaker.” (Laughter). _He recall—ed the fact that. the House‘ had received a petition signed by more thxm‘ 80,000 people praying for the rein—statement of bookmakers and he Was satisfied that eighty per cent of the signaritias merely desired facilities for open gambling.” They did not parti—cularly want bookmakers. He could understand people who said straight out “ abolish the bookmaker altogetlb er,” but he could not understand the consistency of people who said that betting should be confined to those members of the public who were notually attending a. race meeting. If they were logical they should give the .people an opportunity of openly betting on. the totalisator by means of

■whole question and abolish the totalisator altogether. These sentiments were endorsed by Mr S. G- Smith (Waimariuo). who said that he felt confident that the proposal would not increase the volume of betting. Mr W. Parry (Auckland Central) stated that he would oppose any motion which went in that direction. He indicated that the House had dealt very strongly with the bookmaker, and he believed that the bookmaker should : an opportunity of carrying on a. legal business just as the totalizator was carrying on. To-day Racing Clubs were attempting to secure an absolute monopoly of betting in the Dominion. The Postmaster General (the Hon .T. S. Coates) said that he did not propose to discuss the proposal at the present stage. Already there was a class of telegram going through the Post Office which they could not interpret, and which could not be stopped. What would Mr Tsitt do with a telegram that read “ Place double order 74 bluegum.” or '‘double order ten lengths bluegum.” As a matter of fact Bluegum was the name of a horse, and a very good horse it was. Mr Isitt: " But if you had hundreds of such telegrams addressed to one man you would know that that man was a bookmaker.” Mr Contes: “But they are not all addressed to one man.” He had many telegrams which he would he glad to show Mr Tsitt, and if Air Isitt could interpret them he would be glad to stop all -such telegrams in the future. Mr Harris: “You are taking a. risk.” Mr Coates: “I am not taking any risks.” . • Mr Witty: “He would he surprised at some of the signatures.” Mr Coates added that he did not think the amendment would be a welcome one as far as he was concerned. The fate of the amendment in committee will now he watched with interest.