“CITY DEVILRIES.”

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20232, 16 February 1934, Page 7

“CITY DEVILRIES.”

Denunciation of Lottery by Sydney Bishop. SYDNEY. February 2. At the annual celebrations held by the Y.M.C.A. the other day, one of the speakers was Bishop Kirkby. This gentleman is Bishop-Administrator of the diocese, and directs the officers of the Anglican Church here, pending the arrival of Archbishop Mowll. Quite apart from his high office, Bishop Kirkby has gained the personal respect and confidence of the citizens of Sydney, and some importance therefore attaches to all his public utterances. Now, this is what he had to say on the subject of gambling. After referring to various “ city devilries ” —vice and immorality in different forms—as menacing our national life, he went on: “ Another devilry is the temple at the corner of Barrack and York Streets. I see hundreds of young men and women going into that place every day. As long as that thing is in Sydney it will exercise a baneful influence.” Well, what is this temple of devilry? A gambling hell? A hotel bar? A low casino? An indecent picture show? None of these things—it is the State Lottery Office, where hundreds of thousands of people year by year subscribe money which provided for our hospitals last year close on £900,000. It seems to me quite unnecessary to comment upon the injudicious and intemperate language which Bishop Kirkby thought fit to use. One can understand an objection to gambling on principle; but there can be no excuse for such grotesque exaggeration and misrepresentation as this. Premier’s Views. Listening to this sort of thing, one feels compelled to sympathise with Mr Stevens on the difficulties of his position. The Premier dislikes all forms of gambling on principle, but he realises that the State Lottery is not only a highly popular institution, but also a most valuable, and indeed indispensable adjunct to our hospital finance. Mr Stevens is cantemulating restriction of the sale of lottery tickets in the form of “ syndicate ” shares, and he is also thinking about abolishing “ housie-housie ” and other games of chance frequently utilised to raise funds for benevolent and charitable institutions. But I fancy that this is as far as he will be prepared to go in this direction; and it seems to me that such illiberal and violent sentiments as Bishop Kirkby has expressed are not well calculated to promote either the anti-gambling crusade or the much more important cause of public morality.