THE GAMING BILL.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 975, 16 November 1910, Page 4

THE GAMING BILL.

1 x DEBATE IN LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL. i THE BOOKMAKER. 1 racinc clubs criticised qy dr. finDlay. The debate on the second reading of , the Gaming Amendment Bill was continned in the Legislative Council yesterday by. the-Hon. Sir Geo. M'Lean ' (Otago), who .stated that, the club with which he was connected had had no trouble with bookmakers, except-oh one instance. A man could sot into trouble 1 by betting with the bookmakers, but ho 1 was not likely to do so when ho had to invest IDs. or £1 on the totalisator. He argued with the- Hon. Mr. Ormond 1 that it was absolutely necessary to dei loto tho clause which provided that in i determining the clubs to which totalisator licenses are- to bo granted, prefer- ■ ence should bo given to thoso clubs which use the machine at only one meeting in tho year. In his opinion, the Rasing Conference would bo better able to administer the Bill than the commissioners. However, ho would help the commissioners all ho could. , Continuing, Sir. George urged that there was no country in the worldwhere racing was-so clean and .well conducted as it was in New Zealand. 'He was not an advocato of . gambling,, but! people had to bo given a certain outlet to stop them from going further. .This might bo clone by giving them small Government sweeps. Tho Hon. C. M. Luke' (Wellington) said, ho was an uncompromising- foo of gambling. Gambling had been increasing to an alarming degree, and tho reform, had been takon up largely by : tke churches, but they were only a section of the reform party. -Probably the most aggressive in the reform party were other organisations. Tho judges of tho Supremo Court were as outspoken. as anyone could be. He was glad the bookmaker was being restricted,-but ho was sorry both tho bookmaker and the totalisator were not being completely wiped out. Last year 275 persons wero charged, with crimes under tho Gaming Act and 228 of 'thoso were convicted, it seemed to.him that 150 race days would bo ample to meet the- desires of thoso who wero fond of racing. Ho hoped . that tho Council would see that a reduction was made when the Bill was in Committee. Ho thought tho State should hold itself free from all forms of national gambling. ■The Hon. 0. Samuel (Taranaki) said he lboked upon gambling as oho of tho worst vices wo could have' amongst us. He' agreed with Mr. Luko that the bookmaker was-an undesirable, and ho was glad tho Bill would prevent him earning a living in New Zealand. If,-wo could prevent this class of people from existing in our midst wo would be doing a . great deal for tho people of tho Dominion. The Bill should be made more drastic in its reference to betting. As long as people wero modorato in their enjoyments they should bo interfered with as littlo as.possible. .Ho did not think it necessary ,to roihico the number of racing days. The Hon. W. C. V. Carncross (Taranaki) agree?} that it.was not necessary to reduce thoi dumber.-of < -racing days just now. Somo measure of protection for small country clubs was, required, and any. attempt to wipe them out altogether would raiso a regular, hornets' nest. On tho whole the Bill was a necessary one, and ho hoped it would go through. Tho Attorney-General, in reply, said it. would be something'savouring, of cant to attempt:to deny that the. two. outstanding evils threatening tho demoralisation of New Zealand to-day., wero drink and gambling—(hoar, that the chief cause of gambling, was horse-racing. "If I had my " way , I would go a long way'in that, direction," said Dr. Findlay, in reply to an inter-, jection that horse-racing- should bo abolished altogether. Ho believed,tho timo would come when the people at large would mako their voices heard on this matter in no uncertain way. Tho Bill was only a stop towards- tho goal, and' ono day tho evil would assuredly be eradicated root and branch. (Hear, hear.) ■ The section dealing with bookniakcrs had been administered by tho racing, : clubs most .abominably. (Hear, hear.) They had ended as 'they had begun, in hypocrisy. Tho intent of tho law was. expressed in words so plain that . any. man ...could . see what was meant, and it was merely playing with words to use it as tho clubs' had done. The clubs said it forced them to license bookmakers, but he held that in eighty per cent, of cases they could have, refused licenses had they wished to do so. At tho very first tho clubs' attitude was ono' deliberate obstruction. "The next scene in this miserablo business," continned Dr. | Findlay, "was that"'any blackguard "who liked to offer a club £20, even if lie only camo out of gaol tho night boforo, could get a license with case." Was that, ho asked, the way to deal with tho matter ? It was,. ho urged, a deliberate attempt from start to finish to thwart the intent of tho section, .and if tho clubs had managed to bring discredit'npon it in so doing they had also brought discredit 'upon'" themselves. Before they asked for further consideration : for their socalled sport, tho clubs should see to it that they carried out tho law dealing with it. As for tho proposed commission, tho Government was not going to givo it or anybody else the right to increase an evil which they were seeking to reduce ' In committee he intended to ask tho Council to change somo of the provisions inserted in the Bill in tho House of Representatives. The second reading was carried on tho voices.