Sporting and Dramatic REVIEW AND Licensed Victuallers' Gazette. With which is incorporated the Weekly Standard THURSDAY , JULY 6, 1905 CONCERNING GAMBLING.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XIII, Issue 800, 6 July 1905, Page 6

Sporting and Dramatic REVIEW AND Licensed Victuallers' Gazette. With which is incorporated the Weekly Standard THURSDAY , JULY 6, 1905 CONCERNING GAMBLING.

On Thursday last a meeting was convened by the Ministers’ Association to discuss the somewhat threadbare topic of betting as applied to horse-racing, the question of gambling on mining scrip, stock and shares of all kinds, land deals, and such forms, by which the more wealthy can have their little flutter, not being touched upon. The remarkable inconsistency displayed in this connection by those taking part apparently escaped attention. The chairman ,the Rev. A. North, prei sident of the association, in opening the : proceedings, dwelt on the widespread j character of the gambling evil, which, i i he said, was not confined to any age or i sex, but tainted almost all classes in the I community, and was threatening to sap the moral character of the nation. He j mentioned that for the year 1901-2 the i sum of £1,275,813 was put through the j : totalisator, showing an increase of 130 i | per cent. Employers of labour were j specially interested in this question, be- i cause there was no doubt that the gambl- i j ing evil tended to depreciate the value of ! work, and was essentially demoralising. > We do not question the figures given, al- j though it would have been interesting to I know upon what was the increase of 130 I per cent., and also perhaps it would have I been better to have quoted later and | smaller figures. Neither do we dispute ' the truth of the assertion made by Mr. I R. Hobbs, who, in seconding the motion, i blamed the authorities for not enforcing I with greater stringency the laws against I gambling. The poor Chinaman playing fantan, he said, was promptly laid hold of, and his opium dens were periodically raided, but though their notice had been repeatedly called to the matter the authorities allowed the laws relating to betting and gambling by Europeans to remain in abeyance. He entered his protest against this kind of thing. “ Gambling is carried on wholesale,” said Mr. Hobbs, and he was right beyond question. Gambling in mining scrip, i gambling in other kinds of stock, gambl- 1 ing in house lots, gambling in merchan- < dise, gambling, in fact, upon every con- j i ceivable thing upon which man, who is I 1 essentially a speculative animal, can give i or accept a wager. Betting on horse- 1 racing is but one feature of the evil i which is simply a characteristic of the e

human race. ’ Much as we may deplore it, this is so, and alwiys will be; yet the Ministers’ Association would propose to kill the evil, for evil it is, by what? Why, by an Act of Parliament. Could anything be more conceivably futile? Air. Arthur Myers, oui' worthy Mayor, who attended the meeting, can always be relied upon to look at any subject from the commonsense point of view. He said there could be no doubt that gambling was the besetting sin of the colony. The evil was so widespread that he did nut think any Act of Parliament would be sufficient to abate it. The remedy must come from within, from the quickened moral sense of the people themselves. He admitted it was not an easy problem to solve, but the matter had reached that

stage when something must be done. Lack of parental control and love of excitement were among the causes of betting, and to counteract these it was necessary that parents should more deeply realise their moral obligations, and that the young should be brought up in a healthier atmosphere—that means should > be provided, as was being done by the Leys Institute and the Young Men’s Christian Association, whereby boys and girls might be enabled to find a substitute for gambling in more rational enjoyments and interests. In that way, and by inculcating habits of thrift the evils which they deplored might be lessened. Those are words which every parent might well take to heart, for there is much truth in them, although we do not suppose that any organisation carried along on the lines of the Y.M.C.A. would ever really reach the great body of the community, and most certainly not its sporting section. So far, we are in accord to a certain extent with some of the speakers, but with the remarks of one or two who followed we cannot for an instant agree. For instance, Mr. Speight said that when I the Totalisator Act was passed in 1881 it was believed it would reduce gambling,

and prevent young men being swindled by bookmakers. But it had had the effect of increasing gambling. People now used the totalisator who would never have dreamt of going to a bookmaker. I They ought now to say to the Government, the law you passed to reduce gambling having increased it, you should repeal the law. The totalisator should be abolished. It was degrading the community, and creating gamblers, because it was respectable, and looked honest and fair in its mode of operation. This sort of stuff no doubt sounded all right to the clerical gentlemen and their friends who composed the meeting, but it seems a pity there was not somebody present who had the courage to stand up and put the other side of the question; someone to point out, for instance, that because a man is a bookmaker he is not necessarily a swindler. It seems an impossibility with some people to disassociate the two, in which they do a very great wrong to a body of men who frequently give far more money towards the relief of distress and in charity than do the very people who are so ready to denounce them.

Then, again, it seems a rather remarkable fact that the very people wLo are so prone to decry the totalisator are those who know the least about it. No doubt these people who are so ready to speak badly of it will be surprised to hear that many of the leading people in New South Wales and Victoria are doing their utmost to have the machine adopted, while in every other State of the Commonwealth it has proved a great success. If the totalisator has the effect of so greatly increasing gambling, why do the returns as given by our leading clubs show a steady decrease? Of course the truth of the matter is that there is jio such increase in the amount of betting, but by’ the present system it is under Government control, and the figures are available, whereas before this was not the case. As the evil is inherent in human nature, we think that it is far preferable to have it as far as possible under the strict supervision of the

' Government, instead of returning to , the older system which gave no ■ check. The only alteration we ■ would suggest is that the perI centage at present going to the Governj ment should be devoted to charity, and j thus gambling, which is bound to continue in any case, will be productive of some good.

The efforts to put down by law the carrying on of agencies for the sale of tickets in Tattersail’s consultation is without doubt one of those crusades, which, like prohibition fanaticism, is certain to do more harm than good, because not only will it interfere with the liberty of the subject, but it will also be diametrically opposing the wishes of a very large section of the community; We know that these consultations are well managed, being licensed by the Tasmanian Government and drawn under the direct supervision of its officers. Surely the few shillings sent across annually by seven-eighths of our population cannot harm the senders, whereas it at ’east gives a possibility to the poor man r.f a competence for life, a fact which, of course, can never appeal to those people who oppose it, and who are generally to be found in snug billets. The tact ef vhe matter is we are getting too much nursery Government altogether, and could get along very much better if a little less of the swaddling clothes system of rule were in vogue. We know that many a man has been ruined on the turf just as they have in every other form of gambling and in business of all kinds, but to sweepingly denounce racing on that account verges on the ridiculous. Gambling from its very nature cannot be put down’ by any Acts of Parliament. To legislate against the totalisator is like picking off the flower to kill the plant. To check the evil it is necessary to strike at the root of it. and the only way to dothis is in the home.