A BISHOP ON BETTING

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1733, 6 January 1888, Page 3

A BISHOP ON BETTING

The Bishop of Liverpool, m bis address to nil annual Dlooesan Conference, thai refers to the plague of batting :— " I thli.k yon would do wall to press frequently on your people the immense harm whiou is being done by the betting habits of the present day. I might say some- i thing about the lubjeot of lotteries and : ftißd* At bcziatt. I doubt alike their i legality and propriety ; but I spare yon. The evil that I have m view is far mere aeriocß. I refer to betting on horse I races. No man can take up a newspaper In this age without noticing the large amount of space sod good type which betting occupies. It ia a bad eign, and tfie eosaant increase of it bodes mlsoHef. Whether rac'ng is abstractedly wicked, and whethor it encourages the breed of horses, are questions whioh I »haU not ■top to dlfCDte. But I itn quite certain that thousands bet on races who" hardly know a horse's bead from his tall, from a gambling spirit, etid a morbid, restless love of ejoltr ment, and a secret hope that they may suddenly make a fortune without itesdy. quiat working. I charge my «lergy to remember this matter m their sermons. I aek the Uity to assist them by sternly discouraging betting amoDg •crraotr, clerka, assistant?, or employes of »oy kind. I could not blame any merchant, banker, or tradesman if he laid " dowo a rnle never to keep a betting man m bis establishment. I believe the last day will shovr that to many a young man betttog has been the first downward step to loss of character, Ices of place, loss of bappineea, and loss of ioul.