POLICE METHODS AND BOOK. MAKERS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1652, 20 January 1913, Page 8

POLICE METHODS AND BOOK. MAKERS.

Sir,—-Your enthusiastic endorsement of polico methods in the rccent bookmaking prosecution has set this writer thinking. In effect, you approve of officers appointed to uphold the law becoming lawbreakers, and acknowledged liars in tho process, to maintaining a statute that hasn't enough public opinion behind it to be otherwise enforceable. To thoso not acquainted with the particular Act under which tho prosecution was made, -it may be well to explain that all the protective provisions which a porson charged with any other ofl'cnco under our laws enjoys such as tho right of trial by jury, or a refusal to give evidence which, may incriminato tho witness, have all been taken away, and the chance of conviction for this offence by ordinary methods is far greater than the general run of polico prosecution. When it is found that not a single citizen outside tho ranks of the police, is prepared to assist in the enforcement of such a law, .the question should seriously commend itself to thoso in tho community who are neither fanatics on gambling, financially interested in the returns from that great stake-collecting machine, tho totalisator, or engaged in tho industry of "improving the breed of horses," whether suppression, . with tho handicap <{ every legal rule of fair-play banished,' having miserably failed, some other method of controlling the evil ,cannot be evolved.

Certainly .the bookmaker is a' parasite, but it is optional for any person in tho community to bo a sufferer from his. activities, and probably he is tho least harmful from an economic point of view of tho ever-increasing hordes of parasites who fasten themselves on tho economic system. The worst that can be said of him is that ho is engaged in a business of exchange that creates no wealth for tho community. This argument can be more strongly iis'ed against tho land-speculator and his agents, the sharcbroker, about three-, fourths of' the legal (principally) and many of the other professions, together with innumerable other business callings that extort .toll for- inadequate services by entrenching behind the protection of statutory privilege; • , ' ; A correspondent, signing himself Citizen," writing in your issue of Wednesday last, fairly sets out the point of view of that Puritanical section of: tho community which is eaten up, with it consuming hatred cf.all that pertains to the sport horse. As an example of rant, cant, inaccuracy, and hysteria, it fairly represents the sum total of argument that was ever advanced for the-present gaming legislation. Leaving out what, ho is "credibly informed," about all those engaged in tho bookmaking profession being "exspielers," "burglars, and, tho awful crime of it/ "roustabouts," and quoting tho only statement of fact made in the courso of tho mental effervescence: "These men generally win ninety-nine times out of every hundred, but they are not content with that—they want to expect to win a. hundred times out of a hundred." It is'foiind by a simple process of nnalysis to bo almost childishly absurd. The bookmaker does business in oompeitition with tho totalisator, and tho total deduction! by tho machine is 124 per cent.—lo per cent, to tho club, and, writing without verifying this latter amount, 12i per cent. Government' taxation. If the bookio does business in competition with tho macliino, and ho is such a dangerous .character as your correspondent is "credibly inform-i ed," how could ho possibly expect to excel tho totalistibor's profit? And since tho ethics' of l.ookmafcor-botting are continually referred to by that section of tho community which disregards' tho honourable ■ rules of fair-play, and intelligent reasoning in its hatred of., his calling, I' would iiko 'to ask if thoro is., another business known where tho standard of honourable dealing is so liigh that largo sums of money aro frequently passing from one to tho other, and the only guarantee of payment possessed by any party to tho transaction is-, tho proved honesty cf the other. If tho betting community could inculcate this standard of honour into tho ordinary ramifications of business, -what a wiping out of parasite tliero would be!, Tour correspondent is also sadly lacking in the saving grace of humour. 'He Moments that" there is no legal method of severely dealing withYthe "professional" punter, and is looking on tho, political horizon for a cloud. As a matter cf fact, the penalty is almost -'19 sc-vero under recent gaming legislation on tho "punter" as on the bookmaker. With such a comprclicnsivo knowledge of his subject, your correspondent unblushingly rushes in to decide a question of law between lawyers. It is about time now that tho legislative repressionists had a littlo of their own niodicine for consumption. How much it is costing New Zealand annually to give effect to all these endeavours to chaftgo human nature in one generation it would bo interesting to know. What tho police got out of sly grog cases would be another interesting question, and whether the rewards obtained or a deep sense of duty aro the actuating forces, of activity. Why the puritan should cscapo taxation by placing it upon grog and totalisator receipts and then condemn his weaker. brother for relieving him of obligations is another question that requires answering. It-would seem that repression has accentuated every evil it set .out to cure, and the virulence of its advocates is tho best proof of tha fact.—l r.m, etc., . R.D.A.