THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1907. ANTI-GAMBLING LEGISLATION.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8871, 4 November 1907, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1907. ANTI-GAMBLING LEGISLATION.

The cry of the anti - gambler js loud in the land, and becomes louder as the years go by. It is a laudable cry in many ways, and has alreadybrought some beneficial results; but the trouble is that it is becoming so all-embracing in its scope that soon it will be difficult to know where perfectly harmless and legitimate speculation ends and gambling begins. There are ceitain well-defined phases of gambling which are emphatically vicious, and attempts more or less effective have been made to suppress them. In some cases, however, inhmeal legislative enactment has only intensified the vice by driving it into dark-corners, where, out of sight of tne administrators of the law, it is carried on in a manner much more detrimental to the well-being of the community than when enacted in the light of day. The fact is that the spirit of sporting speculation has taken so strong a hold upon the people of the Australasian States that all present attempts | to eradicate it by statute must be I hopeless. Public conscience, or, in J other words, public opinion, alone j will effect an absolute cure, and public opinion has not yet reached the stage when legal enactment can rely upon its co-operation. Meanwhile, the best that can be done is to regulate such of those forms of gambling as are still dear to the hearts of the vast majority of the people. Up to a certain point the proposed new legislation embodied in the Gaming and Lotteries Bill which was circulated on Saturday aims at regulation, and is in some respects commendable. It imposes a penalty up to £IOO or three months' imprisonment upon any person owning or keeping any house, room or place as a common gaming house, taking

part in the management of the same, or advancing money for gambling' purposes at such places; and anyone found in a common gaming house is liable to a fine of £5. When such a place is declared by the Supreme Court to be a common gaming house it is to be placarded as such and thereafter any person entering such premises is liable to a penalty of not less than £5, but may be fined in any higher sum up to £IOO. Street betting is specifically dealt with, and the minimum penalty is fixed at £2O and up to £IOO for a first offence, and three months' imprisonment for a subsequent offence. Persons betting on sports grounds are liable io a penalty of £2O. These provisions will meet with a consensus of public approbation, because they are amongst the worst features of the gambling evil. The proposals regarding the totalisator, however, go in the wrong direction when they

I seek to abolish the use of the double \ totalisator, or restrict investments upon the machine to within five minutes of the notified time of starting of a race. Apart from being an unwarrantable restriction, it will be found practically impossible to carry out the latter provision. The only effect it will have will be to embarrass the conductors of the machine and render them liable to an enormous penalty. The provision might as well have made the time limit half-an-hour before the race is fixed to start. While the proposed law is unnecessarily vexatious in these respects, it overlooks an aspect of the totalisator trouble which might with advantage to the community and racing generally be regulated and restricted. If it were provided that totalisator permits should only 1 be issued to clubs of good standing, and then only for a limited number of days in tne year, something substantial would be done to encourage a legitimate sport and to limit the use of the machine. The stakes might be made the test of the character of the club, and if permits were only granted to clubs giving a high aggregate of prizes at a meeting, the little meetings, where the use of the totalisator may more reasonably be held to be superfluous, would be wiped out. There should . be fewer race meetings, and better. That would be an all-round advantage, and we hope when the bill is in committee some such suggestion as we have made will be adopted.