BETTORS KEEP ON BETTING.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17832, 28 April 1926, Page 15

BETTORS KEEP ON BETTING.

AND GROCER WAITS FOR HIS MONEY. (Special to the “ Star.”) AUCKLAND, April 27. there always seem to be more sporting bodies bidding for racing days thari there are permits to go round, the business community does not welcome these extra days with the same alacrity. The trouble is that the legitimate debts of some people, the price of necessities, are put on one side to feed the totaiisator. The position has been aggravated in Auckland this year by the country racing clubs bringing their meetings to the city courses. This imposition, as it is regarded by traders, has not previously met with open disapproval, but the retail grocers have decided to be silent on the subject no longer. At the last meeting of the association a resolution was passed that the support, of the chamber of Commerce should be sought for a united protest to the Government against the multiplication of gambling inducements in the city area. From inquiries made «t is evident that the race meeting held locally have had a marked effect upon trade, and more particularly upon the credit trade. The ordinary cash trade falls, and the credit trade increases. The Grocers* Association has rules which are supposed to restrict the amount of credit allowed by its members, but these rules, it .appears, are not enforced uniformly wljerc competition is keen, and it is keen almost everywhere. The tendency is for grocers to give more and more credit, and the weekly account is liable to develop into the monthly account, and. under most careful methods, the grocer runs the risk of finding that he has far too much money on his books. Between humanitarian feelings on the one hand and a desire to retain custom on the other, the management of such a business finds it very difficult to avoid debts mounting up to a dangerous level.

Unfortunately the gambling spirit of the community is so strong that many people do not hesitate to make their grocer wait for his money rather than abstain from gambling at the races. “ It is a serious matter,” said a grocer. “ I saw a joke recently about, a married couple who. after calculating the amount of their month l '' dues on their motor-car, gramophone, etc.., decided that, they could spare nothing for the grocer. There is a lot of truth in it. and there would be a good deal more, if, to the time payment money, the money required, for gambling had been added. Hundreds upon hundreds of Auckland households.” he continued, “ are living from hand to mouth, and generally it is from this type of home that the grocers’ gambling risk comes, for it. is his risk, after all, even though it is his customer who goes to the tqtalisator and gets the thrill of seeing his selected horse beaten by a head or by the field. Much of the betting that is made possible bv the non-payment of the weekly accounts is done by housewives themselves, but I should say more is done by the husbands who take their wages to the races instead of handing them over to their wives for household expenses.”

Apart from the debts caused in this way, the retail grocery trade and other classes of business lose a great deal of cash custom because of the totaiisator. The few people who win do not spend their winnings among the grocers, and the racing clubs and the Government do not circulate their " rake off.” A reasonable amount of racing is not generally opposed by the retailers, many of whom like a day’s sport themselves, but they strongly object to the country clubs, which have indifferent facilities, obtaining permission to hold their races on the city courses where they can hope to make substantial profits from the totaiisator club tax.

“ft simply means,” said one man, “ that the city gambling public are being exploited. Only a handful of people from the district of the country club attend its meeting in the city, and the farce is allowed to go on year after

year. lam glad that the business men are waking up to the damage that is being done to the citv trade bv these so-called country race meetings.”