The Kumara Times. Published Every Evening. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1879.

Kumara Times, Issue 980, 20 November 1879, Page 2

The Kumara Times. Published Every Evening. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1879.

Ihir: Lotteries Bill at present before the House deals with what are now widely known as consultations, or sweeps, in the most stringent manner. Strangely a Bill to legalise gunbling to a ceitain extent has just passed in the. South Australian Assembly under the name ot the I’otalisator Bill. A very strong opposition was shown by the Press to this latter measure, but the mover Mr Bean, contended he had not attempted to legalise gambling, but that is was desirable to take a course that would mitigate the great evils that accompauied gambling with the professional bookmaker.-:, who were “ birds of passage ” in tiie colonies. The earnings of the mo übers of this craft in the colonies he estimated at ,£120,000 a year, and ho thought that this sum, loss a commission of p per cent, would (to saved by the use of a totalisator. In legalising the totalisator, the State, he said, acts upon the sune principle as when it licenses a public house ■ it regulates a traffic it is not strong enough to suppress, and minimises what maybe termed its necessary evil. Will the members of the General Assembly of this colony look at the matter in the same light, and legalise what they are unable to suppress ?• In Victoria, for instance, the Government attempted the totalsuppression ot gambling, as far as sweeps and consultations on races were concerned, by law • and yet during the last twelve months one person alone succeeded in drawing sweeps to the amount of £22,000 on the various races. The Chief Commissioner of Police was requested by the South Australian Government to report on the totali.-afor and the results of its use on racecourses, and the suggestions' of that functionary have 1 eti embodied in the bill just passed. We quote a portion of his report as follows ; j In my opinion, the use of the totalizer on raceconrces would have a \ beneficial ellen. inasmuch as it would ■ tend to preclude, to a great extern, the j system of betting which is hitherto j prevailed at races, and has been practiced by professional bookmakers, io guard against improper use lining made of the instrument, tin; person nisng it should be under the control of 1 the stewards ot the races, or the owner

oi' leaseholder of the racecourse, wliu would doubtless predout any cbicanerv being practised. It might a‘so h.\v the cllecfc ot abolishing or reducing considerably the lemptaT m which l.incredit given by the. bo Amakers elf.-rs to young persons excited bv the prospect of winning heavy bets. Hitherto the totalisatnr has not interfered with the peace and general order of the visitors who attend races, and if properly conducted it would, without doubt, be highly appreciated by the public. Mere is a highly favorable opinion expressed l>y the head of the very department entrusted in carrying out the law in suppoit of a machine to promote gambling on moie scientific principles. That the Government of this Colony will be able to effectually cope with the evil we do not for one moment imagine • and, on the same principle as that adduced by Mr Beau in the South Australian Assembly, we apprehend that if a clause was introduced into the Lotteries Bill by which sweeps and consultations on races could lie legally and publicly introduced by license, the number would decrease, the Treasury would benefit thereby, and the general public would not be the sufferers.