PRESS OPINIONS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 49, 21 November 1907, Page 3

PRESS OPINIONS.

THE IMPRISONED BOOKMAKERS. There are, it seems, at least two kinds of. betting; ono is a crime, and the-other is a praiseworthy ■ act; one is to he suppressed and the other encouraged. The public, however, hardly sec tho matter in this light, and it is therefore not surprising to learn that tliero is a good deal of indignation in Christchurch over tho fact that sixteen bookmakers have been sent to gaol —cloven for two months each, and live for ono month each — for having trespassed on tho lliccartoi; racecourse during the progress of tho Canterbury Jockoy Club's recent racing carnival. Though charged with trespass, tho onenco for which these men have been imprisoned is really illegal hotting, and tho object or tho Club is not tho suppression of gambling, but tho protection of the revenue which bookmakers aro supposed to' divert J 1 " 011 ' the totalisator. As this wagering with bookmakers on racecourses lias been made an offenco against' the. law, and the charges wero practically admitted, tho • Magistrate had to inflict somo penalty; hut even it several of tho offenders had boon convicted moro than onco, surely a sentenco or two months' imprisonment is severe for an act that committed elsewhere, and in other circumstances, would be perfoctly legal. Moreover, the Gaming and Lotteries Act Amendment Bill which will probably becorao law before tho present session of Parliament closes, deals in an entirely different way with the offences of which these bookmakers wero found guilty.—Timaru "Post." When a race-meeting is in progress for which no totalisator permit is available, the managers of tho sport aro only too glad to invite the bookmakers to be present, and the racecourse trustees have offered no objection to that action. Of course, if thoro is an offenco to bo checked it is clearly tho duty of the State to check it. But it is not tho duty of tho State to delegate its authority or its duty to private bodies. Yesterday's cases wero taken on tho information of Mr. W. H. E. Wanklyn, who is secretary to the Canterbury Jockey Club. Yet there were policemen and detectives on tho course. If the bookmakers are to bo prosecuted it should bo the duty of tho police to secure tho necessary evidence and to conduct the cases. Tho position is a serious ono, far moro serious than tho Government appears to realise, becauso bookniaking on the racecoursc is being treated as severely as almost any crime of violence would be. Tho offenders prosecuted yesterday wero sent to gaol without tho option of a fine. It could not be contended that they wero following a calling deemed by the Stato to be a menace to' tho commonwealth, becauso the State encourages hotting and draws revemio from it. It could not be contended that tho men themselves wero actually a nuisance, becauso bookmakers are welcomed on almost every racecourse in the world, and in any case it cannot logically bo argued that betting is not a crime at Oxford and is a crime at Ricearton. The public ought to give this matter earnest consideration. They should insist on consistency on the part of tho Government. It was evident from the Magistrate's action that ho was tired of hearing betting cases, but ho took quite tho wrong course if ho desired to end the trouble. Fie should have imposed n nominal fine without cost.s and left tho Jockoy Club to discover a moro logical solution of tho whole problem.— "Lyttelton Times." PUBLIC WORKS DEBATE. Tho debate on tho Public Works proposals of the Government is, as usual, being conducted on more or less parochial lines, consisting to a great extent of angry expostulation on the part of members who consider that their districts have not received their full sliaro of the "loaves and fishes." This is not a particularly edifying featuro of our Parliamentary life and work, but wo presume it is inevitable from tho present vicious system of mixing up the general politics of tile country with the distribution of loan ships they iiave to endure from the want of them of a purely local nature. Mr. Massey, however, lifted tho discussion into a somewhat broader field, when lie complained first of tho neglect of the settlers in tho backblocks in tho matter of giving them reasonable means of access to their homes, and secondly, of tho largo expenditure on the Tourist Department. In regard to tho former question wo thoroughly agreo with tho plea which Mr. Massey made on behalf of thoso who have been induced to take up pioneering work in tho bush, and whose lives aro tinged with a strong eloment of tragedy, especially as regards tho women and children, owing to tho isolation of thoir lot, and tho hardships they have to endure, from the want of any roads having the faintest claim to the name. In regard to tho Tourist Department, it is truo that the expenditure is heavy. ..... It is the indirect revenue that tho Dominion derives from tho Department, however, that constitutes the chief argument in favour of its existence. It undoubtedly attracts a good many people, who spend a considerable amount of money here. Last year, for example, according to tho report of tho Department, tho number of visitors from all countries totalled DGB4, as against 7142 for tho previous year, giving an increase of 2542. Estimating that each tourist spends £50, we get a total expenditure of £484,000 from visitors overseas. Tho Government, of course, receives a direct benefit in increased railway revenue, and tho community generally must reap advantago from this introduction of outside money. What is perhaps even moro important is the fact that those who como here onco make a point of visiting the Dominion again, and somo of them determine to settlo down here altogether. When wo observe, however, that another £20,000 is to bo voted this year on a new bath-houso, for. which £14,000 was granted last year, it seems to us that the matter is 0110 which it would be well to investigate, especially as wo understand that this palatial edifice will only afford accommodation for a very limited numbor of bathers. That a new bath-houso was urgently required everybody who has been to itotorua will admit, but whether it is good business to sink such a largo sum of

money in extravagant ornamentation of a comparatively small building is decidedly open to question.—Christchurch " Press." CLERKS' SALARIES. Mr. Ell has given notice of his intention to ask tho Minister for Labour in tho Houso of Representatives to-morrow whether he will consider tho advisability of introducing legislation next session fixing the minimum wage for clerks. The member for Christchurch South, as ho explains in the question he has placed 011 the Order Paper, had his attention directed to the subject by a statement appearing in The Dominion to the effect that tho average .wages of clerks eni-

ployod by insurance companies were from £1 os. to £2 a week. In these days, neither politicians nor newspapers need apologise for poking their noses into other people's business, and both Mr. Ell and onr Wellington contemporary are to be commended, for efforts to obtain adequate remuneration for office workers. We can hardly believo that tho insurance companies, which have been distributing such handsome dividends among their shareholders during the past ton or twelve years, can he paying their clerks such miserable pittances as £1 ss. or £2 a week, but it is notorious that tho supply 'of clerical labour is always 'in oxccss of the demand, and that somo employers have not hesitated to take advantage of the workers' unfortunate condition. Ranks and insurance companies arri said to he the chief offenders, and they iiml their excuse in the fact that, there are a dozen applicants for every vacancy they liavo to till. . . When Mr. Soddon proposed to legislate on the subjcct a year or two ago tlio clerks held up their hands in gentlemanly horror at the bare idea of forming themselves into a labour union. But tli'l. is really tho only way of cscape from their unhappy' position. the Legislature cannot fix a' minimum wage for workers who refuse to take advantage of the law. Nor would the mere fixing of a minimum wage greatly assist tho clerks. Tho minimum wage, following the usual Cendoncy, would become the. maximum wage for a longer period of service, and tho last state of the workers would be worse than the first. The problem is one of exceptional difficulty, look at it as we may, and while the politicians nro attempting to solve it, parents would do well to encourage their sons to take up somo other calling where thoy would find more room and greater chances of promotion.—" Lyttolton Times,"