THE WICKEDNESS OF BILLIARDS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1585, 31 October 1912, Page 5

THE WICKEDNESS OF BILLIARDS.

Sir, I wish ,to call your attention to certain remarks made by the Rev. J. I-' Jones nt a meeting of Baptists held at Christchnrcli on Monday night' last. After Borne statements regarding, tho evil of gambling (with which statements I am in general agreement), ho went on to?" another point.. Ho objected to billiard tables being installed in tho buildings of 2 Young Men's Christian Association. • lnc result of tho innovation," according ,to him, "would bo that scores of'young who otherwise would know nothing ot the game, wouitt learn under Christian patronage and a Christian environment a gamo which they would very likely he. invited to play under different conditions and for nionsy Lefaro they vers many years older. It would probably be ilie first step towards the gamo of a shilling up, towards tlic gambling fever, and towards the suicide's grave." The closing bit of melodramatic rant I pass, as unworthy of a temperate man's notice. But against tho general charge or insinuation levelled at the Y.M.C.A I ffiosfc indignantly protest. In the first H™' ~ aro billiard-rooms in I.M.G.A. buildings all over the world, so far as my information goes—the ono exception being furnished by the Y.MCA building at Wellington. I am able to c'ay a word or two with some authority as to tho \.M.C.A. at Wellington. There was a strong desire that billiard-tables should bo provided, and tho proposal was stoutly combated for a considerable rime by a persistent and industrious minoritv of those concerned in the management of fho institution. r Finally, the billiard-tables were put in. In noint of fact, mv firm supplied ■ them. But from tho fir'cfc the young men wishing to use the tables weru subjected to the most harassing and s'b. puru restrictions. The persistent minor* ity. defeated in its find, \v;\<, still uli'» to Tntiko the will of tho majority ineffective. No proper supervision of the fables was kept, and no attendant was appointed to have chorga of them. The sum charged for playing was stupidly small; vliUe against tho revenue derived (torn t/io. tables a large charge was made for rout, Uniting, anil M forth. Vfith Dm mull. oi course, Vknt tbo "iVitW, paw" Ki) tables could possibly .have paid under such conditions. We had .supplied llio tallies at exceptional ami. tutcimvmevc.M terms, simply out of our desire lo /ie/p what we regard as a most worthy institution, nnd we look them back when it, was proved that they were b-eing conducted in such a way as positively to defeat the intention of the young men who wished to nlay on them. One of tho restrictive regulations was that members could not smoke In the billiard-room. No sillier regulation conld well be.

So there onr connection with the matter ended: and at that I am content to leave it. But I-must point out, worn it only for Mr. Jones's information, thai billiards is not in any sense it pramhl/iiK came. To start with, a. ?ame is comrjarutivelv long, and does not lend itself to gambling; end (a far more weiprht.v consideration) the elements of chance ill actual play is reduced to a trivial minimum. Billiards, far moro than almost any other

popular game, is a game of skill—a quiet fame, free of possibilit.es of unpleasantness or uny taint of violence. I'llo suggestion that any young man can lie harmed by playing billiards is as preposterous as tho insinuation that the game of billiards drives unhappy creatures to suicide. Iu my experienco—which is by this timo somewhat wide-and varied, tho young men who are keen on billiards are aliiiost invariably young men of good class, simply actuated, by honest enthusiasm tor a very admirable, and delightful game. And it has to 1)6 remembered that moro and more, with every year that passes, billiards is becoming a home game. If 1 furnished Mr. Jones with a list of tho names of people in New Zealand who have tables in their private houses, I think ho would -be astonished. The game combines wholesome, gentlo exercise with oxcellent training, No man can play billiards properly without benefiting by the game. How, then, can it possibly injure tho young men who aro invited to make their home in tho .buildings of tho Y.M.C.A.? Tho slender thread of the gambling argument breaks at a toncli. It is as easy to gamble on draughts or chess as oii billiards. If a man is bent on gambling, gamble ho will, were it only on next day s weather, or the flight of a moth in tho lamplight; but, nga.m, as a matter of fact, there is very little gambling on billiards. —1 am, etc., i CHARLES MATTHEWS. General Manager Alcock and Co., Ltd., . Wellington, October 2-1, 1912.