THE GLOBE. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1880.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1866, 16 February 1880, Page 2

THE GLOBE. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1880.

It is the intention of the police authorities of Wanganui, we are told by the “ Wanganui Chronicle,” to prosecute any person who may attempt to use the totalisator at the forthcoming Autumn Race Mooting at that place. The totalisator is an institution whoso career of late has been most chequered. Petted in some parts of the colonies, treated with indifference in others, and “ run in ” by the police in a third place, it has become a sort of “ Young Pretender ” whose movements are surrounded with as much romance as can bo attached to any instrument connected with such a shady subject as that of betting. In Adelaide it has come out triumphant. Legalized by Parliament it is now a thorough going South Australian institution, hut it is only there, as far as wo are aware, that it has attained to a satisfactory status. Opinions differ as to the real bearing its introduction would have on the betting question at large. Some say its legalization would legalize gambling, while others say that at all events all the money invested returns into the pockets of the investors, with the exception of a merely nominal percentage charged by the owner of the instrument. Looking at the question in a common sense point of view, it would certainly seem that no harm can come by its being used on the racecourse. It is all very well to talk of the legalizing of gambling, but it would appear as if it was legalized already, or why should the crowd of highly scented and bejewelled gentry that live on the fat of the land by sucking their weak kneed brethren exist at all ? If the totalisator does nothing else for us it may lessen the number of those ornamented, if not ornamental, gentlemen. The totalisator has been tried on various courses in New Zealand, and if it has not taken the land by storm, has at least given opportunities to those who would bet under any circumstances, of obtaining the full odds. The police at Wanganui have apparently a superabundanoo of vigilance, and throw their spare energy into a direction in which it might well he ■pared.