BOOKMAKERS AND RACING CLUBS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8995, 4 December 1907, Page 7

BOOKMAKERS AND RACING CLUBS.

DEPUTATION TO THE ATTOR-NEY-GENERAL. ■COMPLAINTS OF UNREASONABLE RESTRICTIONS. MINISTER WILL INSIST UPON PAIR PLAY. * in i i A deputation of iookmakers waited •on the Attorney-Seneral, at Wellington, yesterday, to complain about the manner in which the new Gaming Act had been administered by the Peilding Racing Club, and to ask that the Law should be carried out in the spirit intended by the LegislaX ture. * y The deputation asked that a mandate.should be issued to the racing clubs compelling them to administer the Act fairly. The bookmakers protested against being charged £2O per day and also aeainst being roped-in in an enclosure. In the course of his reply Dr. Findlay stated that the bookmakers had no right to expect one would get any indulgence from the Government. The duty of the Government would not permit of any favour being shown to any agency of gambling... That he wished to make clear. It was the plain duty of the Government to see that the Act, whether for or against the bookmakers, was being genuinely carried out. He was not going to deal with quibbling interpretations of the law ncr with suggested evasions.. The plain intention of the Act could be rexiognised by every one who had the intelligence to read it. The intention) ,of the Act was to confine betting to horse racing, and to racecourses, so that the calling of the bookmaker had been limited to a specific area. There was nothing,in the law to compel a racing club (which owns its own. course) to grant licenses to bookmakers at all. The obligation was on those clubs which held permits to use the tota* isator. The basis and justification of clause 35 of the new Act was this: that if a to the Government and obtained a license to gamble by means of the totalisator then the State had a right to irrpose such conditions as it saw fit. For the future one condition of the right to use the totalisator would be a compliance by the clubs with clause 35 of the Act of 1907. If a club refused to carry out section 35 then, under the authority conferred on him as Minister in charge, a license to such clubs to use the totalisators would not be granted. He pointed out that section 46 of the Gaming Act of 1881 gave the Colonial Secretary entire discretion in the issue and cancellation of licenses to use the totalisator. While he recognised that if the law was stringently enforced—and stringently it would be—the operations of reputable bookmakers would be more confined than ever before, but it was the Government's right to protect the book - maker in lh« exercise of such provisions as he was entitled to, to protect him against unreasonable restrictions and the whittling away of v , such rights as he possessed to a mere shadow or a delusion. Speaking entirely for himself, he considered, it was the duty of the Government to exercise ihe discretion given it under clause 46 of the Act of 1881, and to say whether a totalisator license should be issued or not in certain cases where clubs were wilfully refusing to carry out the spirit of section 35 of the Act of 1907. He desired to make it perfectly clear that | he was no* Condemning the action of any racfr%A:b since the Act came into force. would ascertain whether the conduct of the two clubs referred to (Feilding and Woodville) j was reasonable or not, but he could ( not make any definite pronouncement i on the question without hearing the j authorities of the clubs, and making | full enquiry. He had received in- j formation that several people connected with racing clubs were trying { to induce clubs to make section 35 a ; dead letter. He repeated that if, after full enquiry, he found that any club was acting in the manner indicated, then—subject to the approval of his colleagues— he would not hesi tate to do bis duty, ; and rescind the permit to use the totalisator. In regard to the bookmakers themselves, they had the benefit of clause 35 in their own hands. The purpose of the section was to put bookmakers | (on the . course) in no better or no j worse a position than the totalisator, so that there would be fair competition between each. He urged the ' members of the deputation to meet the racing authorities and arrange a working basis. The fee to bookmakers up to £2O was entirely in the discretion of the clubs. He repeated at length that the clubs had no light to impose exactious conditions, but they had a right to make reasonable conditions to secure that the operations of the bookmakers would not become t a nuisance. The conduct of the bookmakers was being watched very closely, and he was glad to have the assurance of Mr Scott that they were observing the law xrd all sincerity. Attempts at evasion by the clubs, if the bookmakers themselves did not observe the law, would not induce much sympathy on the part Of the public. There was no use criticising the clubs if the bookmakers did not observe the law. There was perhaps a chance to lift the bookmaking business to a plane it had not occupied in New Zealand before, now that they had a statutory right to carry on their calling. He concluded by saying that if the clubs did not carry out the spirit of the Act, he would advise his colleagues to exercise the corrective he had referred to.