Wairarapa Daily Times [Established Third of a century.] TUESDAY, MARCH 24, 1914. THE GAMBLER.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume LXVI, Issue 11935, 24 March 1914, Page 4

Wairarapa Daily Times [Established Third of a century.] TUESDAY, MARCH 24, 1914. THE GAMBLER.

The gambler is to he found in all countries'in all stations and at ail times; he always lias existed, and he always ■will. Gambling is a passion, and, like all other passions, if not held in check becomes an unmitigated evil. Once restraint is removed gambling takes control of the man in whom it is born, and he can no longer call himself a free man. He is a slave, n serf boun<l hand and foot. Gambling, in its ' extreme form, is one of the greatest evils in the world at the present day, but when we make this statement we do not mean to condemn the man who goes to a race meeting or who speculates in the way of business, or even the occasional card player.' Every man is a born gambler, and there must be- some outlet for the .spirit ingrained in him. Can any man say he has never gambled in some form or another? We think not. He may 7iot have clone so in the ordinarily accepted sense, but still he must have at sonic tune taken a, chance iiml speculated on that chance. But these men are not what the world terms gamblers. The latter are these \fliose whole life consists of taking chances. Sometimes men of this stamp find an outlet for their gambling propensities in the armies and navies of the world, for the life of a soldier or sailor, in time of ■war, is one continued gamble with death. These men often get to the top of the tree simply by taking chances. Tho man who gambles always with the greed for gold as his object has no chance of ever arriving at any goal; he is as ono accursed. Tho fever

continually burns in his veins, and excitement is as the breath of life to him. The inveterate gambler soon has all the finer instincts either killed or blunted. Ho is without mercy, and ho expects no mercy. Perhaps during the early stages of his career he has looked for mercy from his fellow-gamblers, but ho might as well have looked for a polar bear in the jungles of India. Then finding that mercy and gambling never

travel hand in hand, ho becomes hardened. One only needs to read-of the great gambling dens at Monte Car- 1 lo and thoso who frequent them to' realise the truth of our statement. The habitue of the tables has eyes for nothing else but the glitter of gold and tho progress of the game. It matters not to him that others are ruined and in despair take their own wasted lives. The gambling spirit, like the men whom it fashions, is pitiless; it binds its devotees with bands of iron, and having onco como within Hs baneful influence, there is little chance of escape. The gambler and the drunkard arc on an equal plane; each is in the net of a passion, and though one or other may struggle violently against the meshes and make A r am flutterings, rarely does one make his way to freedom. The gambling evil is one which has raised great controversy and led to the passing of much legislation by Parliament, but the. spirit and the gambler have existed from the beginning and they Avill exist to the end, in spite of all that might be done in the way of restraint. The man who can control this passion has nothing to fear, the man Avho fails Avill soon be himself controlled. Life itself is a gamble, and there is a saying that it is "better to be born lucky than rich." In the big gamble of life every man is given his chance, and he does not know whether he has won or lost till "the aumbers go up."