Tuapeka Times. AND GOLDFIELDS REPORTER AND ADVERTISER. SATURDAY,.JULY 18, 1885. "measures, Not men."

Tuapeka Times, Volume XVIII, Issue 1163, 18 July 1885, Page 2

Tuapeka Times. AND GOLDFIELDS REPORTER AN D ADVERTISER. SATURDAY,.JULY 18, 1885. "measures, Not men."

If Parliament is really in earnestTinT the determination to suppress gambling, the Bill introduced by Mr Uobbs, arid road a second time , in the ijlonae of Representatives towards the end of last ; week, will hardly meet existing*requirements, since it' takes ho note of the gaming at present absolutely, legalise/! ' by statute. "The Gaining and Lotteries Act, 1881," has been a dead letter, for the simple reason that it is practically absui;d s to" fulminate decrees, and declare Draconic penalties against betting,' sweepstakes, and lotteries, whilst authorising Racing Clubs to use the totalisator at race-meetings. By all means let gambling in every form be put down. It is certainly the duty.of the State to. do so, but, this is , not to- be done by legislation which makes " fish of one and flesh of another," and consequently fails to carry with it the sympathy of public opinion. The only raison d'etre of the enactment referred to is the expediency in the interests , of the community to check gambling as far as possible, on the ground of its being a vice mischievous to society, [s , it not, then, a gross anomaly to give , legal sanction to gaming machines, , which afford the fullest opportunity of indulging the evil spirit, and, as a matter of fact, promote gaming to such an extent that the investments for one day | | at > the ; large race-meetings frequently | exceed £10,000, contributed by all , classes of the community. ,We have not seen any calculation of the aggregate amount which passess through. ,the totalisators annually ; but, judging from Dunedin, Christchurch, and Auckland, it cannot fall far short of £200,000. The scenes which may on many a raceday be witnessed at and about these licensed machines sufficiently indicate that they are the medium of gambling in a very extended form, and that they tempt to precarious investments hundreds who cannot afford to lose their money. Consultations may be bad enough in their effects and tendency — we have nothingto say in their defence — but they are not to be named with the totalisator in working active mischief and extended demoralisation. ' Can anything, indeed, be more preposterous than to affect to suppress gambling by an Act which legalises the totalisator ? We by no means accede to the general application of the proposition that people cannot be made moral or vlr- | tuous by Act of Parliament. The laws of a nation regulate and influence very ' materially the welfare, peace, and moral [character of the community? It has I been remarked by a distinguished writer on social subjects ' that "in all countries a decline in public honesty and private decency has been in exact' ratio to the spread of gambling." The Legislature has, we conceive, a direct responsibility in the matter, and is fully justified in taking repressive measures ; but let the measures be really repressive, and not hypocritical shams, devised on the principle of straining at gnats and swallowing camels ! The Bill is almost an exact rescript of the Act now in force in Victoria, which, by-the-way, is, we believe, (Systematically evaded. Any person exhibiting or publishing placards in any form or advertisements, whereby ityis made to appear that any place is used for the purpose of making bets or wagers, relating to " any horse-race or other race, fight, game,' sport, or exercise," or of taking part in any sweepstakes, lottery, or scheme by which prizes are gained, is declared to be liable on conviction to a penalty of not more jthan £50 for each offence, or, in the discretion of the Justices, to be imprisoned for a term not exceeding two j months, with or without hard labor. The same penalties are 'decreed against any person sending, exhibiting, or pubHalving " any letter, circular, telegram,: placard, hand-bill, card, or advertisement" in reference to any' sweepstakes, lottery, or scheme.' 'The PostmasterGeneral is authorised to declare 0 by notification in the " Gazette " . that no letter, packet, or parcel addressed- to ,any person whom he has. reasonable Sground to suppose is' engaged in' pro- 1 'moting lotteries or schemes of chance shall be either registered or' delivered, and no money-orders are to be issued in f favor of any person against whom ,any such order has been made and de.* clared by notification. The provisions noted, it will be observed, are 1 directly aimed at that modern, institution, Consultations,' which it is sought' to deprive sof the necessary publicity, as well as to prevent .the promoter "having the conveniences of the post-office for the transaction of his business, > Whether these seemingly x stringent . enactments would effect the desired purpose or. not is, at least, open to question"; but presuming that thay should be. effectual, very little after all will have been done in the way of suppressing gaming whilst the totalisator flourishes.' The same Bill passed the second reading last session ; but, on further .consideration, the sense of the House was against proceeding further, so long as the totalisator continued, to be authorised by statute. Every argument against Consultations tells with augmented force against the licensed gaming machine ; , but then the use thereof enriches Jockey Clubs, and these have influential friends in both branches of the Legislature, in the high places thereof and in the Cabinet.

The happy family ••'fhifch' has so, long played the little game v of administering the Education Act in ptago hall had its spoiled by the advent of two malcontents into the\family party.- •■ i^Vlr Fifaser, the' most obnoxious .of these, has* exploded the first 4 bomb, jwhi<?jh ; sbrehfc> mus|t have qtai&^alr.en the older>ingrfiMps. In the first instance, Mr FraseF gave notice of motion that the book of problems for standard in., edited by Inspector Goyon, | be expunged from the list of books J authorised for use in the public schools of -Otago.^f.This Jia, f really,* too.M,bad*on-»Mr-Fraser'a part; for the underpaid Inspectors Iw'ift '# thejtnotion is carried, be deprived of the ways and means of angmenting 4heit> *meagrert The - in&tffiioient sum' of £2,090 a-year divided among three Inspectors is totally inadequate to the position and the , Herculean , labors they S have to perform, especially wben it is I borne in mind; that tone of. them is an I M.A. Why, the title alone is worth half the money ! Then, again, Mr Fraser has struck a" blow at an : impoiffcarit charitable institutiou, one of whose dhiei functions i 3 to provide employment for thej.unem- | ployed of another Colony,, by moving fora return of all teachers in the Board's service who hold:' qualifications from other Colonies. There- 'are plenty " of • other openings for the young men grained to the teaching profession in Otago, and it is only in just keeping with the eternals fitness of : things that their more aesthetic xVustralian cousins should Becure the available appointments, while they can go rabbiting, as we have heard of some being advised to do by the principal of a New Zealand training-school. But the unkindefct cut of all was giyen by Mr Fraser when he gave notice to move that the Secretary and one of the Inspectors be dismissed, and. a man qualified as an Inspector , appointed as Secretary. Mb Fraser,has developed, a' tendency to interfere with vested interests that cannot be tolerated ; and we shall be as much astonished as the remaining members of the happy family must have been at his boldness if his motion is carried into effect. It would be an unheard-of proceeding to dismiss a Secretary who has, by length of service, earned a title to office which can .scarcely now be challenged ; and it would be more becoming on the part of the Board to entail the position, thereby not only making it secure to the Secretary for life but to his heirs after him. Dismiss a Secretary with a miserable pittance of £500 a-year on the score of economy ; why the thing is absurd ! We fear that Mr Fraser will find that he is altogether flying in the face of public opinion", at least as reflected by the majority of the Board, and his obnoxious ideas cannot for a moment be entertained.

The question of charitable aid, viewed in the light which the disbursements of the Caversham Benevolent Institution throw 'upon the subject, is one that might well cause even the most thoughtless to reflect. In 1874, the total expenditure of the Institution was some £3,000 ; but in the course of ten f years it has risen to £8,000 for the year 1884. If the disbursements for charitable aid elsewhere throughout the Colony are anything like proportional to the state of affairs revealed in our immediate midst, then the spectacle is not a prepossessing one. The increasing thousands, which from year to year make greater demands upon the earning class of the community, and even now place a burden upon their shoulders which is felt as a crushing impost, also tell a tale of suffering such as we can have no conception of, and- such as should be, if not impossible, next to it in a young and prosperous Colony. Deducting from the numbers who are the recipients of charitable aid those who are placed in that position through misfortune — widows with large families left destitute through the death of the breaa- winner, and" persons permanently laid aside through disease — there still remains a large number claiming our sympathy and our money, who , would, under ordinary circumstances, be able to earn their own living ; and of this latter class the conviction force? itself upon us that they are the victims of drunkenness and shiftless . habits.. In short,' the records of -the Benevolent Institution reveaL to us unmistakable evidence of a deep and festering sore, eating, cancer-like, into the very tissues of society. How to remedy this, condition of things is a moot problem; but it is plain enough that unless some effort is made to help those to earn their living iwho appear to be unable to help themselves, the -wages-earning class will be unduly taxed to support their indigent fellows. ? " * '•-