NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1343, 22 January 1912, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY.

® I.\ a recent review of the past year in regard to the theatre, what it has given us,_ and what it has failed to give, which appeared in The Dominion, comment was made on the lamentably few good plaj*s which had been performed in Wellington. To emphasise this, instances were given of many poor samples in which it was impossible to find any educative benefits, or even real pleasure, so far as intelligent lovers of the real drama were concerned. The New Year commences with a fairer prospect. A few days hence local playgoers are to be afforded the opportunity of seeing Mr. H. B. Irving—son of the late Sin Henry Irving—an actor, whom the world at large has proclaimed a player of high merit. Not only will the visit of Irving the Younger stir up that interest which must accnic from the visit of an actor whom public repute has stamped as a dramatic artist of outstanding ability, but it will bring the additional pleasure of a renewal of our acquaintance with that higher form of drama which unfortunately there are far too few opportunities of witnessing. In Auckland Mr. Irving .put in a plea for the sounder drama, for the advancement of which his father did so much and did it so well. The plea was .well timed. We have had enough and to spare of trashy melodrama, which touts for patronage through the medium of some hairraising or highly suggestive situation. In Shakespeare, of all the writers for the stage, one is able to obtain a full measure of that intellectual refreshment the genuine playlover from time to time hungers for, even as he nibbles at the less satisfactory viands spread for his delectation. Mr. Irving and "Hamlet" should help considerably to widen the circumscribed horizon of the younger generation of playgoers of this city, and at the same moment can hardly fail to give delight to those to whom the memories of the classic drama are a perpetual source of pleasure. The evidence before the To- ' talisator Commission on Friday last was particularly interesting because it afforded an excellent opportunity for contrasting the views of the theorist on the gaming question with the opinions of the man who speaks from an intimate 'ksiowlecrgc of the subject gained first fiand. Me. Fowlps, the theorist, put forward his ideas of the relative merits ot the totalisator and bookmaker with all the assurance of the man who believes that gambling can be eradicated from human nature by Act 01 Parliament. Under cross-examina-tion he naturally floundered badly, and wound up with the statement that he preferred the bookmaker to the totalisator, apparently believing that by thus crippling a source of revenue now enjoyed by the racing clubs of the Dominion he would restrict horse-racing and betting on horse-racing. Possibly he might prejudice the 'finances of some of the clubs, but he muse oe a very ignorant man indeed if he really does not know that the biggest racing prizes and the largest crowds, and the heaviest betting in Australasia are to bo found associated with race meetings where the totalisator is not in UK. Moreover, if lie had rfudied tlie matter at all fairly, he must have known that the bookmaker, who is ready to lay. wagers on practic-

ally every day in the year in almost every town in the Dominion, and for almost any sum within reason must do incalculably more harm as a medium for gaming than the to talisator, the use of which is onlj permitted on a restricted number ol days in the year, which requires <1 cash payment from investors, ant which only permits betting on tlu racccoHrsc*itself. Of course there art many other reasons why the totalise tor is preferable to the bookmaker some of which were well explainec by - Inspector Ellison, who is tin witness whose evidence contrasts si favourably with that of Mr. I'owlds Inspector Ellison, speaking as ; police officer of 40 years' experience said, amongst other things: A liking for betting was inherent in tin human race. liefore the (otalisator eann there was wore betting, ami a fe'rea deal ma-rc drunkenness than now. Tin totalisator had made things bettor ant steadier. And later he added: "There i: greater danger from hidden evils thai from open betting." There is a grea deal more in this latter remark thai is generally rccognised. However we cannot reproduce here the evi dence of the Inspector. Our pur pose in referring to this question 01 the present occasion was mainly t< direct attention to this weighty pvi dence of a police officer whose Ion; experience and sound judgment can not be lightly treated. His refresh ing outspokenness was that of tin man who sees things as they are, am who refuses to obscure his visioi with rose-coloured, glasses in orde: to avoid unpleasant facts and t< make human nature appear some thing very different to what hi knows it actually is. The annual report of the Chan cellor of the New Zealand Universit; presented to the Senate on Saturday is very largely devoted to the ones tion of University re.-'orm. This perhaps, was to be expected, in viev of the interest the subject_ is cxcit ing, and it is not surprising tha Sir Robert Stout should have seizor the opportunity to indulge in yc another tilt at the reformers. Un fortunately for his case, he appear; to have gone out of his way on oc easions to drag in some rather cheat gibes at those who differ with him and the argument generally show: signs of over-strain. The Chancel lor's report is not without interest despite the - blemishes referred to but should be read in coniunetior with the "corrective" supplied b.i the sub-committee of the Executivi of the Reform Association, whicl will be found attached.