GAMBLING

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume L, Issue 12768, 1 July 1911, Page 2

GAMBLING

As a result of the report of the Racing Commission, the Rangitikei Racing Club will be literally crushed out of existence, and its members will suffer considerable financial loss. Ou that, the'Rangitikei racing people reasonably protest, and Mr. Buddo, who knows (in the special sense) nothing whatever about the matter, bleats generalities that butter no parsnips. ; We may be a wonderful people, but in .this .matter of. gambling. wo are gross hypocrites and shameless asses. If the totalisator is good on one course, it' is good on all courses. If it is to be abolished}at-.Bulls^ .there-is no justification for its existence at Trentham. If sweeps in Wellington and Auckland clubs aro tolerated (as they are .tolcrat* - cjd),. we" have no' moral right' to , pra ; vent Bill and Jim from taking tickets '.in Tattersall's. As a matter of fact, wo can't prevent them. Wo issue our • foolish and illogical edicts; and Bill and Jim go their way grinning to do the thing they Vant to. Tattersall's do a bigger business in New Zealand than they did years ago, and nobody suffers from the change—nobody but the Post Office. Meantime, gambling goes on wholesale. There is gambling in all, the clubs.. There is gambling in all the factories. Men of position gamble, and men of no position. We fine wharf-labourers *.rfor tossing •. for ha'pence on the wharves, and then" we go to the club and lose more than wo can afford at bridge. - No other nation on earth has gone so far as we have in , legislative hypocrisy. As a matter of fact, gambling cannot be abolished T>y Act of Parliament, The spirit of it is in all our characters and rooted in half our business. What is needed ,is such a strengthening and toning of public opinion a^s shall keep gambling within due and reasonable limits. Many a man can afford to risk five shillings in a sweep, when he cannot afford to risk a pound on a totalisator. Men don't go to races now becauso they love horses. They go because they gamble. It is about the most expensive kind of gambling. The price of admission is generally high, and tho inducements to.'tho. reckless and improvident: are .numerous and deadly. It happens that I don't gamble. "But if I did, I should put my j money into the sweep every time. That would bo about all I could afford. .