CUP WEEK

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 116, 13 November 1939, Page 9

CUP WEEK

"PAGAN ABANDON"

EVIL OF GAMBLING

MINISTER'S ATTACK

(Special to the "Evening Post.")

CHRISTCHURCH, This Day.

An attack on gambling and betting, with statistical references, was made i iri , the Durham Street Methodist Church last evening by the Rev. Raymond Dudley. Mr. Dudley told a large congregation that from figures obtained during the last week and during last Labour Day weekend it appeared that the evil was worse than ever this year. "If an ordinary man were asked what was the greatest manifest social evil he might answer, drink," said Mr. Dudley. "Soj let us examine tho country's liquor statistics." In 1933, . Mr. Dudley said, the country's drink! bill was £5,000,000, and in 1938 it was | more than £9,000,000. The average -amount" spent by the individual, allowihg for abstainers and children, was £10 a year, he said, and so the man who named drink as the first evil was wrong, because gambling was a greater one, and more money went into it. . "New Zealand's public enemy No. 1 is not the exploiting, parasitical liquor trade, but gambling—on racecourses, with bookmakers, in so-called art unions, in overseas lotteries, and 101 other places in social life. "As a newcomer to this city from the North Island, I was impressed with "its ethos, but I was astonished at the way in which at certain seasons the city is given over to race meetings with pagan abandon; big firms are closed on some days of the week, and offices grant concessions to their staffs. More than once I have heard the bitter complaint that the butcher and the .baker would not be paid for another month because of the races." TOTALISATOR RETURNS. The totalisator returns for the whole Dominion last year, together with stake money, were £7,739,365, Mr. Dudley said, and with the amount spent on lotteries included, the turnover came to about £8,000,000. Yet these figures did hot include many other sources of , the same evil. Thousands of pounds \yere sent out of the country for lotteries, and for the thousands that were sent away hundreds of thousands were spent locally in the horse-racing industry, which the, gamblers supported. "So to the assessable figure of £8,000,000 in the Year Book we can add 33 1-3 per cent, to cover transactions with1 bookmakers, overseas lot- . teries,, wagers, arid gambling in saloons, to say' nothing of the money spent in the ■management and organisation of the racing racket. Then the gambling 'bill far exceeds the drink bill." Some tailked of the good that was brought about by horse-racing, the irri- ( provement of breed, and the employ- r ment of labour, but the sport was c not organised in altruism for these "A economic advantages'; Mr. Dudley said. 7 "And this year the,'evil threatens to l become worse tMlj '-ever. There- seems; I to be plenty of moriey to spend oivbet-, \ ting; Where h'¥X'£"'be"fen alre&dy! ,j compiled, there are iridicafip'ri's_tliaf tlie; • turnover nt betting ,;iri:" 1939 is going! ?. t,6: exceed that of mbst^ast years;";' 5

/"Ih 1938 the total tuniover;iri :. NewZealand over the Labour bDay .weekend. was "£426,703. In 1939.it/Was;; £^585^65! for the correspbriding-;.petiod; 'ah:! '-'in-; Crease of nearly £l-io,ooftf."'■'" .'La^t year: in ."' Cup Week, ChristchUrclr" irivested ] on the totalisator !.£-'418,639. :but:.this year it was £419,686;. the Highest since 1929.-'' ■"■ " '.'. 7i"AA/':""A'XX" y :;:"Apart from the qUestiori/of morals, yjy.k seem to have fprgotteir'that; such "expenditure is not; ;pnl£. uneconomic and unproductive, "but that jit,', this period .iri .our nation's : history our money would be better spent in more enduring purposes," Mr.. Dudley concluded. -.' '-'•• ■ '/';'"'".. '." ,/"//.