A STATE LOTTERY

Hokitika Guardian, 2 October 1925, Page 4

A STATE LOTTERY

SVDNKV. Sept. 17. The l.iihotir I’tnty. ns. wits the case nhoiit five ye.'ii'-- ago. is again ll,vino ,t kite to lest public feeling oil the i|UosI inti of a Stale lottery, (t is eiiconraged mi <l«n: lit by the enterprise oi Queensland. mill the fact that Midi a large sum How' goes out of the St.it" mid into Queensland or T.'isiun ni.t. I.ir it jramhle in the Temple of Chnnee. The feeling is no dottlil that this ;i-f stun might as well remain in the Slate lor tin' upkeep of hospitals: or same other useful insiitiition.s, tor people here will have a gamble. Not a few who do not see eye to eve with Labour in many respeet.. would support, a State lottery, in view of the Money that now Hows into Queensland and Tasmania, especially it a percentage were put to eon 1 hunuiiiiiaidau titti'es. It might at least serve to retluee tlie begging that is now her riming a part of Sydney's daily life.

Hut the idea, if ii hecomos operative, will of course lie bitterly opposed by t.lio churches and kindred organisations. Tho spectacle of the sombre and dreary pages of the Government (.!azotic I>eillg brightened with moving appeals to all liege subjects to have 3 ••flutter’' in a Government gamble, will ho too in licit for them. But whether there is a State lottery or not, it is impossible to stop people from gambling. On one of the main metropolitan roads, thronged with week-end motorists, it is (pule a popular pastime for scores of youths to gather at different spots on Sunday afternoon and I'd. in good British currency, on tho odd and even numbers on cars thn fly past in their hundreds.