THE GLOBE. SATURDAY, AUGUST 6, 1881. GOOD BY ACT OF PARLIAMENT.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2292, 6 August 1881, Page 3

THE GLOBE. SATURDAY, AUGUST 6, 1881. GOOD BY ACT OF PARLIAMENT.

As will bo seen by our Parliamentary iolegrams, the Gaming and Lotteries Bill has passed safely through the ordeal of Parliament, and on the Ist November will be law. Such an interference with the liberty of the subject has perhaps never passed the Legislature of any country possessing free institutions. It reminds one more of the old Puritan days, when dancing, singing, aye, and'even whistling profane songs, was punishable with fine and imprisonment. Then, even as now, the law was evaded, broken, and defied. The only result was that the lawbreakers did that secretly which before was done in the light of day. And so it will be with this Bill. The result of its operation will 'bo the fostering of secret gambling houses, far more pernicious in their effects a thousand times than the comparatively harmless consultation. Experience should ere this have taught our legislators that to attempt in the nineteenth century to coerce people into being what some persons call good by Act of Parliament is an exploded idea. It simply can never be carried out, except in the brains of some enthusiasts, who would, if they had the away, revive in all their pristine glory the legislative enactments of Puritan times. As to the consultations, wa have already pointed out what will follow on their suppression, and this is still more supported by the fact that the clause imposing a penalty for advertising these consultations was struck out. The money which has hitherto been invested in New Zealand will therefore go to other colonies, and, so far from a stop being put to this—in the idea of some people—reprehensible practice, it will increase, because with consultations, as with goldfield rushes, distance lends enchantment to the view. What good, therefore, can the promoters of this Bill hope to attain ? We are unable to see one single redeeming point in it. We grant that it would he a good work to get rid of the scum and rascaldom which infest our racecourses called betting men. Bat will this Bill do it ? We say no. They will not perhaps ply their trade quite so openly, but until racing is abolished entirely as a national sport—which will only be when the traditional New Zealander sits on the ruins of London—betting will follow as a matter of course. The Bill will not do any good, as we have shown, in the matter of consultations. Then the question comes, this being so, what necessity existed for its enactment ? And to this wo reply, none. Professing to cure evils which exist it really intensifies them, and encourages secret and illicit gaming. There is yet another point upon which we should like to speak, though, of course, from the numerous amendments made in committee one has not a very clear idea of the whole of the provisions. But so far as we can see it will be necessary for every person in the country to obtain a copy of the Bill, so as to study the clausos and see that they do not become liable either to fine or imprisonment. So far as we can gather, a person betting sixpence in his own house on a game of whiet, or a pair of gloves with a lady, renders himself liable to be baled before a Justice, and either fined or imprisoned. Now this, to our mind, is carrying paternal legislation a trifle too far. It savours somewhat too much of Russian despotism to be acceptable to those who have bees horn in a free country. The next step that these ultra good reformers will take may be in the direction of compelling by legislation every one to go to church throe times on Sunday, and to turn a day of rest and thankfulness into one of gloom, sadness, and hypocritical mourning. We quite agree with Mr. Sheehan in his protest against the Bill and his statement that it will be found utterly unworkable. Wo go further, and say that it will be found to be absolutely pernicious, and tbs only hope is that the Government, finding how strong public opinion is against it, will quietly allow it to remain, like many other statutes, a dead letter. Goodygoodyness is all very well in its way and when kept in its proper place, but, like teetotalism, its adherents are apt to run rampant, and then there is no more despotic or autocratical individual in the world than your cold-water man or religious enthusiast. This Bill is one of the offshoots of the violent prejudices of the latter, and we hope the public will show, by their dissent, that they decline to have their liberties interfered with. APOLOGETIC.

Wb have to apologias to our readers for having erroneously stated in our racing report last evening that the “ Royal ” drag convoyed our respected civic fathers to the gay and festive gathering at the course. We aro authoritatively informed that these gentlemen wore conveyed to the ground—and presumably brought safely back again—in a vehicle of a similar size and description, drawn by a pair of quadrupeds with the ordinary orthodox number of legs eaob. The genuine “ Royal ” drag, tooled by Mr. E. W. Millett, the champion Whip, was certainly on the ground, and, it is said, was engaged and occupied by a number of mere private gentlemen, and the tnm-out was undoubtedly the beat appointed four-in-hand equipage of the day.