"HIP AND THIGH."

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 872, 19 July 1910, Page 6

"HIP AND THIGH."

WAR AGAINST GAMBLING. A MASS DEPUTATION. IPREHIER ON PROPOSED LEGISLATION. A deputation of between two and three hundred, persons, including representatives of all tho churches, waited -on the Prime Minister (Sir Joseph .Ward) outside Parliament House yesterday to ask: (1) That a referendum should be taken 011 the question of tho abolition of the totalisator. (») Thai the Act of . 1907, which legalises the calling of the bookmakers, should be repealed. (3) That drastic treasures should be taken to put down street betting. • Almost every class of tho community seemed to be represented in the deputation, and there . were also present a considerable number, of tho ''bookmakers" tliemsslves. Mr. H. G. Ell, member for Christchurch South, introduced the. deputation. ' ; .. A Sheaf of Resolutions. ■Mr..J. G.-W. Aitkeii, who was the iirst speaker; said that he. hold in his hand a Hheaf of resolutions, from all parts of the* Dominion asking for reform in the laws bearing upon' gambling.; He also had apologies from sympathisers—including the Roman Catholic Archbishop—Who Ytere unable to be present. " Amongst the : resolutions in support of the deputation's fiews were those from all the Chambers ofj Commerce and the Wellington. Trades and Labour Council.". He had also received telegrams from practically every part of the Dominion—certainly from every principal centre of it—wishing the deputation success in their efforts. One ami all were ready to back up the Prime Minister and Parliament in anything they might do to minimise the gambling evil which was obtaining so great a hold. 1 ill New. Zealand. '

.The "Most Over-raced People." The Hev. J. J. North said-tho Prime 'Minister'was well'versed in the perilous menace offered to the community by the ciir.sc .of gambling and in his desire for. reform :he hail the best sentiment of the nation at his back; For over a quarter of a • century the legalised betting machine had been'inflicted on the community, which under its operation had become the most over-raced people on the' face of this planet. The national cashletting machine, had been legalised on the understanding that it' would make bookmakers as rare as the. moa, and the time had now come' when the people should say . whether; this State' endowment of a vice and- of the: hobby of a handful of'rich men should, continue. .That was the first , plea of the deputaition. 'At the same time they did not waDt tb prejudice their seconds.plea by' any thing "they: had said in regard to the totalisator. If the bookmaker and: the totalisator issue's were., put together to the-Parliament it would .probably mean a' victory • for tho racing fraternity.

.The Bookmaker and Back-Door Influence,

•The deputation were also , there to say that the Parliament should, at ionce re-. ,vokc the licenses granted *to bookmakers. '{Hear, hear.) This was • the , only nation..- on., earth, so far as '.thev cojdd i;-learn,:, .-'.which had: I ;put'' the bookmaker in exactly tile same legal position as the politician and minister. (Laughter and "Bear, hear.") No voice in., tho Ination hßi been raised for the legalisation of the bookmaker. He was put upon this country by political backdoor influence. That was to say, there was no outside claim' or public demand for his recognition, but certain politicians held a . pistol; to the . ears !of the Govern,inerit,'so to speulr,"and said that, it would jhavo. nothing. if it did not license the 'Bookmaker. The country had had three, years of him, and those years were too many. They" were there to see that his ; license shoujd go; and go at 'once. ; No Government- put its authority behind a .'better measure than, one for the instant iabolition of the bookmaker,, npt. only; on (the racecourse, -but in the towns. There •were probably in. this city on the outside • two hundred gentlemen who kept racehorses as a hobby. These two hundred : gentleihen had from the Government a double endowment. There were - other hobbies held by other" gentlemen irh'p' bad. no. endowments. The' ' deputation asked that a-referendum should bo taken at the next election on the totalisator, and said that the Parliament which had put the bookmaker upon them should revoke for ever , his public recognition.

The Bookmaker in Town. The point was that the bookmaker was .to-be looked to in the town es well as in the' country and. on. the (racecourse. /When the bookmaker was legalised it was. said, that there would be. •no more street. betting,'yet there was as much :street betting as-ever. "There are bookmakers' touts calling on private houses every day," said. Mr. North, "and going round the shops in this city,, and unless the police have more powers- to wipe this, out there will be no satisfaction in this'.country The deputation, urged the'.Government "to give the bookmaker no rest, to rout him hip and thigh until you annihilate him, and tbis community Will bo a lot happier than it is to-day/' 1

• Bishop Wallis's Remarks. . .The .; Anglican Bishop of .Wellington (Dr.YWdllis) said that the deputation had . only a very easy task to perform, because they were not' like preachers crying in.tlie wilderness, for they wcre'advocatiiig a popular cau.vj, ami hlid paljiic opinion on their own side. (A voice: "Question ?") Mr.. Aitkon might , have told of many cases in whiph judges, magistrates, and police officers had denounced, the fcvil, as well as Chambers of Commerce and other institutions, which were . determined to fight, it lot all' that it was; worth;. Everyone' was pleased with ; tlie plain uncompromising way in .which the Prime Minister was dealing with the matter. Sir Joseph had already intimated I hat lie proposed to . submit' certain resolutions to Parliament, aM,'declared ,thut liis sympathies were with' his hearers in the matter ,of the bookmaker. Ministers of religion knew, perhaps 'better than others the amount of harm done by gaiibling, and. especially the temptation to men' of' small incomes to . face heavy , expenditure not by ■honest work, but by trusting to luck'in betting. ' The deputation 'contended - that gambling made men bad'citizens, and therefore bad Christians. '

The Fate of tho Empire. He would tell the Prime Minister of in experience which he hod never forgotten. .Years ago during that awful week wheri the fate of the. Empire was trembling in the balance over what was ■happening in South Africa, he happened to_ be travelling in a train in New Zealand. When they came to a railway station there was a rush for tho nowspapers, but to' Ills astonishment nine 'out of ©very ten passengers looked first not to see whut had taken place in, South Africa, but at the racing columns. They cared more as to whether they had won or lost a little money than as to what was happening as regards tho fato of the Empire, and of course New Zealand was affected by the result as much as any other' portion of the Empire. Ho was aware that 5 tho Prime Minister might say that it was tho duty of tho ministers of religion to creato a strong pnblic opinion against gambling. They would try to do more in that direction. But at present tho Government was mak-. ing their task a most difficult one, as Mr. Justice Chapman said, for Parliament without knowing what it was 'doing had made the calling of tho bookmakers a legal one. The deputation was there to ask the Prime Minister to do his very best for the sake of this country to extinguish the evil—that no longer there should be among the people any licensed bookmakers. (Applause.) Professor Kirk's Views.

Professor Kirk emphasised the' point that betting was now harmful 1 in the case of those who could not afford to gamble. They had , it from numerous employers that tho temptation to clerks and subordinates who handled money

that betting was often irresistible. In support of- this statement, cases often appeared in tho Police Court, and 'occasionally in tho Coroner's. Court in which the ovidenco was indubitable. The licensing of bookmakers had removed a restriction from promiscuous gambling. When New Zealand appointed trade commissioners, ■ the result had been the extension. of tho area and volume of trade, and in tho samo way the .licensing of tho bookmaker had resulted in an increaso of. the area and volume of gambling.. ' Not. only had betting beoomo less and less confined merely .to horso racing, but tho number of. bettors had greatly increased, and tho evil had becomo wider and wider. • ; -

Every Bookmaker a Propagandist. That that must be. the case was evident from the fact that every bookmaker had become legalised, and was now a ■propagandist. Howevef honourable a bookmaker might be, tho temptation was for him to extend his.calling, and, unfortunately, all bookmakers were hot honourable/ Then, again, there was the fact that there : were many persons who ought never to have been licensed. There was eridence available that the police •.would have been able to lock up many fugitives from work but for the fact that they had a recognised calling in bookmaking. It might bo said that the licensing might be made stricter, but the only real remedy wis to wipe out the calling altogether. Training: of Young. _ Mr. J. P. Firth, Principal of the Wellington Boys' College, spoko from the point of view of those who had to do with the training of the, young.' From that point of view it' was extremely unr f desirablo to tolerate a class'of men whose calling itself actively tempted, the young into a course of danger; (Hear, hear.) Some people thought that it was necessary to put youth through the fire of temptation,' 1 but to suppress ! the bookmaker and his touts'was not" to' mollycoddle tho boy. (Hear, hear.) The difficulties wero sufficiently great without the bookmakers. It was sometimes said that- gambling could never be put down entirely', and that therefore the bookmaker might as well be left aloiio. 110 had also been told that it was impossible to check Califorhian thistle after it had-got a hold, on. certain land, but that was not a reason why. the farmer should sow Californian thistle all over his' most fertile areas. Yet this was. the course which , had been taken, in effect, ,by the .legalisation of the' bookmaker. The. deputation was anxious that.the.law should not make : the downward career easier for the' young men than unfortunately it must always be. (Applause.)

"A Great Human Affirmation." Mr. John Hutcheson said ho had been on a good many deputations'to various Governments, but ilever on orie tliat had so much rotninded him of a great human affirmation. (Hear, hbar.)'- it was not necessary for thein : to. adduce an argument to Sir Joseph Ward iii urging tlioir case, the presence of fifty representatives as> a deputation was sufficient 1 to affirm what Sir. Joseph, in common with themselves, believed to -be a necessary thing. They had, however',, great fear of a malign influence endeavouring to. sidc-track the movement which brought them there that day. ■ (HeiUvhear.) They ' were there outside the narrow: limits of sectarian religion or party politics, representing every phast! that was good in the whole of the country, regardless of politics or of religion or-irreligion: They asked ,the Prime Minister- to remove as far as practicable the temptation's which had been put by an Act of the Legislature in the way of the people. | They knew that tho police were impotent now to move about or disturb in tft'o prosecution of their vile calling'those tempters, who were sapping the very heart of our young men by their wiles and, guiles. He fully endorsed, as one who had. some knowledgo lof Parliamentary procedure, the action which Sir Joseph Ward had already taken. Ho was perhaps /singular- in : that ; respect. He would very much prefer,'that Parliament should 'd<jal manfully and heroically with the three'issues ..of which tho Primo Minister had given notice, >" As .to the abolition of the bookmaker, ho thought that Parliament had only one word to say on that. As regards the? totalisator, its decision might be doubtful,' but the question of its abolition should also go to Parliament. Each individual menibei should rbe enabled to vote on each of these separately,- and if Parliament was wise' in ■ its generation ',it -. . would wipe out the totalisator. If it should not do so the deputation asked for a referendum to be taken at the' next election. As regards the third issue/ to curtail the number of race meetings by aTjout 50 per cent., lie hoped it would be carried. They were there to encouragfe Sir Joseph Ward and perhaps enlighten some of. the members of the House as to the' real feeling of the men of the country on this question.

SIR JOSEPH WARD REPLIES. INTENTIONS OF THE GOVERNMENT. The Prime .Minister'said that he fully recognised the representative nature of the deputation.' Everyone in this. country,' whether -in. private. or, official life, who. had been. watching the course of things for soiao time must have realised that the time had arrived when Parliament should step in to control what was admittedly growing to be a very dangerous position of affairs,so far as gambling was iohcorned. Ho was not. against those who' believed in horse-racing,, nor against, any. section who believed iu helping. a. sport that was. recognised all the world over. l!ut he was against , a system that had unfortunately arisen in New Zealand by which an immense amount of* damaged and in some, cases ruination, had been . done. Only the .other day a case had come under his notice where a, young fellow earning under ',£l5O per annum had lost A'4oo to bookmakers in one day. Then again, in his ..long experience as beau of public Departments, ho had known of. scores and scores of young men Tvho had found themselves in .trouble, and in nine cases out of ten . it turned out, upon examination, that they had been, carried away by the desire .to make money through gambling to an extent that it had.'put them .into deep water and finally brought ruin. to many of them. He was impressed with tho necessity for all classes, even devotees of horse-racing in tho truest sensey to subordinate their personal interests to enable legislation to be passed which would make gambling much more difficult, especially in tho interests of the younger people, than'had ever been tho case I>ci'ore in New Zealand, and it: was for that reason'that in a few days, in conformity' to an intimation which lie had mado to another deputation, which interviewed him' last session, lie would place before Parliament certain resolutions in order that the GoverngKrit, aifter. haviDg ascertained tho decisions of the representatives of tho people ou- the issues, might bring down .its legislation.

No "Side-Tracking" to* be Allowed. "I do not know," said the Primo Minister, "what foundation. there is for supposing .that any -orio of. these issues will be aide-tracked, but I want to say that nothing of \ tho kind will occur." Tho voto as regards tho bookmaker would be talma independently, and tho Government would bring down legislation this, session in accordance with the. result and ask tho House to put it on tho statutebook. Tho vote on the retention or otherwise of the totalisator would bo taken separately, ami as r.u outcome of tho decision of Parliament tho Government would consider whether any further steps were newssary. The question ■ arose whether Parliament, .who wore the masters of tho Government ,in the matter of . legislation, should not lie asked to consider tho question of a referendum on this issue, and ho and his colleagues had been considering whether they should submit a question of that kind to Parliament during the session. Tho issue as to whether races and totalisator permits should be reduced would bo put separately to Parliament, and upon its decision legislation would 1)0 brought down and submitted'to Parliament this session. With regard to the position of the bookmaker. Sir Joseph Ward stated that tho desire to control the gambling evil had.grown by a proccss of evolution, and tho legislation of IW)7 contained proposals of a very far-reaching kind as compared with previous enactments. There wero men—and . ho thought, that Mr. Aitken was one of them—who voted to put the legislation of 1007 on tho statute-book because it provided a treaisUilou' advancs'm tho control of "ambling. A majority of members then bolieved that' by centering tho whole of the betting on tho racecourses it would bo minimised, or.at all- evouta removed

from tho ordinary everyday life of the people in the cities, and that a. certain amount of temptation would bn removed from those people.

Act of 1907 a Disappointment. Tho result of the operation nf the Act in regard to the increaso of bookmakers hud undeniably been a disappointment, to say tho. least of it, audj 1 the faci remained that many respectablu bookmakers in. New Zealand—and there were some very respectablo men among them—ho was not referring to the calling, but to the men themselves—had| made representations, only recently, urging that an alteration should bo mado in consequonco of tho admission to'tho class of bookmakers of men who never should have been admitted. The admission of these men had added to tho numbers 'if bookmakers,' and in some cases had added to the investments made, with tho result that there was now a general outcry being made—and rightly —against the system in this country.. Becoming a Canker. In conclusion, Sir Joseph said that ho wished to make it quite clear that his Government .was quite sincere in regard to its proposals. He recognised that every member had a right to do what he thought proper. For himself, lie would exercise his vote in the direction which ho had previously indicated. The only way that .one could impress on. the people of this country the necessity for stemming an evil that was obtaining a' hold in many families and becoming a canker was by showing that the public men \fere anxious to. co-operate wjth those who not only.wanted to stem it, but wipe it out altogether. He hoped that the resolutions Would come before Parliament this week, and upon the decision of the House that these, separate issues would bo brought down 111 legislation, and_ be put on the statute-bonk this session. Before the gathering dispersed a hearty vote of thanks was accorded the Prime Minister for receiving • the deputation.

VIEWS OF A RACING OFFICIAL

"There .arc great differences between r the bookmaker and the totalizator," 're-marked-Mr. John. Rowe (president of the New Zealand Trotting Association) when asked his . personal opinipn yesterday with reference to the Government proposals as regards betting., Mr. Rojvo went on to remark: "The machine does not bail you up in the street or give you credit. I will not -regret it if thobookmaker goes. Bo will have himself to ?blame. . The totalisator, I , believe, should ,be retained and the Racing Conference should hav« power to issue perniits. The. number to be. issued should bei determined by .the Government and the conference should be..entrusted w.ith their allocation; seeing that..all districts get fair play. The. conference, X am suTe,/would not. jeopardise the machine by granting permits to all and sundry."

BAPTIST CHURCH, PETONE. At tlie Baptist Church last night- resolutions of strong protest were _ unanimously carried —(a) ■ against the licencing of bookmakers, and (b); against the display of living pictures of the JohnsonJeffries fight in tho Dominion, and calling upon the-Government to take the necessary legislative action.

STRONG DENUNCIATIONS. ' (By Telegraph—Special Correspondent.) 1 ; . Wanganui, July 18. At the. Chamber of, Commerce . this morning a letter was rend from the Wanognui Council of . Churches inviting the cooperation of the Chamber in the protest against, the gambling evil. - Mr. T.. 13. Williams, president, said that they would nil agreo, that gambling in New Zealand was assuming largo proportions and doing a great amount of ■ injury. . Mr.' D. M'Farlano concurred and thought that the Chamber. should, in common with other chambers throughout the Dominion, raise a protest against the gambling evil, -lie was not going to, refer to the social - aspect of the question, 'though he held strong views in that regard, but lo'6k'ii)g''.at : 'it froth a business standpoint, tho evil was a serious menace, and tho legalised bookmaker should be done away with, . lie moved: "That this Chamber is insympathy with the Council of Churches' efforts. to minimise gambling, and- that the timo has arrived when the Government should be urged to pass legislation which will do away with the .legalising of bookmakers.'', Mr. J. Brechin seconded the motion. -

Mr. A..E. Campbell, speaking'as a representative of a racing who never, speculated so much, as a postage stamp on a race, remarked that it was against the wish of the ■ racing clubs, and the racing community that. the bookmaker was.licensed. The clubs had; been, pressed to licenso them, and the Government had passed a law compelling the clubs, to grant licenses to bookmakers whether they desired .to or i ot. Thr only stipulation was that the' applicant should be of good character. It was not generally know that the clubs were placed in such a position. ! The local club went to considerable expense in /the matter of appointing, special defectives to put down bookmaking, but it was one,, of the hardest things imaginable to , ciitch the "bookies." His opinion' -.was that, despite all tlie laws passed,' gambling and .bookmaking would go. on, all the same. The bookmaker in the street was a worse evil, and was one of the greatest curses in the Dominion.'.' There was a certain amount .of restraint on the totalisator, inasmuch as. transactions' wore for cash, but. the bookmaker gave any amount of credit, and carried oh nefarious practices clandestinely. One. of the greatest curses of the-present day .was the desiro to get rich, in a day. Some were hardly weaned, from their mothers before they wanted to get'rich, and. they resorted to gambling to do so. Bookmakers were not a desirable class; they were parasites on society, and the evils which they were responsible for "were more brutal than the fight the other day. Mr. Allan Eobinson could, not help thinking that the country was somewhat hypocritical in ■ it's attitude toward the gambling evil for, on one hand, it .legalised the totalisator and then ' cried out for the abolition of the bookmaker. Tlio totalisator, like: tho bookmaker, was an unmitigated evil,. and ho 1 would like to seo mention mado of the totalisator in tho motion. . '

After several others had expressed their, views the motion was put and carried unanimously.

FEILDING RESOLUTION. . /By Telegraph—Press Association.)' •Feilding, July.lß. ,Tho Peilding and District, Ministers' Association to-day passed .resolutions expressing appreciation of Judge Chapman's outspoken condemnation, of . bookmakers, and earnestly appealing'to 'the Government and Parliament to completely abolish the :legal status,', and to prohibit the practice of bookmakihg. The association also protested against pictures of the recent brutal fight, and hoped that sueh pictures would bo prohibited. The association cordially endorsod tlx© campaign platform adopted by tho recent Dominion No-License Convention, and trusts that Parliament will speedily see tho wisdom of responding to its just demands.

THE NELSON CHURCHES. Nelson, July 18. At .various churches yesterday resolutions were passed "expressing great satisfaction at tho prospect of the passing of legislation, dealing with the twiiv evils of • tho bookmaker and .the totalisator, constituting lis thoy have done a grave social and' moral evil. It was trusted that tho legislature will deal fearlessly and swee'pingly with the matter, and secure tho speedy coming of tho day .when the law of tho land shall gambling in any form impossible."-