Marlborough Times. WEDNESDAY, JULY 27, 1881.

Marlborough Daily Times, Volume III, Issue 263, 27 July 1881, Page 2

Marlborough Times. WEDNESDAY, JULY 27, 1881.

Tin’, greater number of those gentlemen who compose the Legislature of this colony appear to consider that

dir main object tor which they have ]>(•(’!v elected is to endeavor to turn Parliament into a. gigantic debating soviet'', and a.ir their opinions at the expense of an admiring country upon even 1 social or moral question that can he imagined. At least this is what we should suppose from an examination of the progress of business so far. Firstly, we have had the .liquor question discussed and torn to very tatters, the /fmixarrf reports upon the subject bearing more the appearance of the speeches made at annual gatherings of the temperance bodies than the grave deliberations of lawmakers. The smallest matters in connection with the trade have, been legislated upon, even down to the regulation of the hours to be kept by barmaids, the connubial state of the publican being also deemed worthy of attention. The subject has been veil.-

tilnterl in all its bearings, and tiierc is no doubt a grievous waste of tone and iiioncv lias taken plact* in tile attempt, to devise means to make New Zealand settlers temperate by enactment—a desirable enough consummation in itself, But one which is incapable, of realisation, and one which none bat hare-brained monomaniacs would endea vor to bring about. Then, again, we have a Gambling’ and Lotteries Biil brought down by an energetic niember, who has tVanied its provisions with such strictness and attention to detail as proves that he fondly imagines his remedy will prove, a perfect cure. With strange inconsistency, however, ho does not include one particular form of gambling- -the totalisator—in his clean sweep. That he expressly excludes and would legalise, probably recognising that the speculative instinct of mankind must have an outlet somewhere. .Betting in every shape and form is strictly prohibited, and with no refreshment stalls and no opportunity for risking money, except in a strictly business fashion, subject to 10 per cent, discount on the totaiisator, the race-meeting of the future will probably be nearly as cheerful as a well-conducted funeral. It has been well pointed out by one of our contemporaries that one of the chief results of the Clambiiug and liOttcries Bill, if it ever becomes the law of the land will be that some £200,000 or iTOO.OOO, which is now annually circulated in. the colony in “consultations,” “sweeps, We., will he sent out to the Australian Colonies for the same purpose, the profits remaining there, cor men will gam ole, though moralists point out the folly of the vice, and legislators concoct stringent laws against it, and the more secret if- has to he kept the more 0.0.11;’crons it becomes in its results, it it wore legalised and subject to certain restrictions, there might he some hope that, its eiH'cts would not be so banefid as they have been. If it were as c:isv to recover a drT.t for money cluo 11 non a gambling transaction as it is for a tradesman to recover for goods sunolied, those who took part, in it must first have funds in hand to meet probable loss, or meet the consequences that await the debtor in ordinary

trade—a suit at law or the Insolvency Court. We are no advocates of gambling, but would rather desire that it should, if possible, be stamped out of existence, but it is sufficiently apparent that so long as human nature is constituted as at present this desideratum is a practical impossibility. In some form or other it will manifest itself, and is but a perversion of that spirit of speculative enterprise, which in a happier form, prompts to business or commercial progress. The merchant prince and the successful bookmaker owe their advancement to the same instinct of speculation, and the proverb “ nothing venture, nothing win,' - ’ is at applicable to one as to the other. In its lower forms it is eminently desirable that gambling should be discouraged by every possible means, and that our youth should be protected against themselves to every extent possible, but at the same time we must admit that we are of opinion the introducer of the Bill under consideration and its supporters arc commencing in the wrong direction. Even now the law is harsh enough against gambling, yet it goes on in secret ami its operations are widespread, as everyone knows ; and consideration of this indusputablo fact should have reminded honorable members that the remedy did not lie in this direction. For somewhat similar reasons we do not entirely agree with the Licensing measure, and are in lined to tiie opinion that the true ca :se of morality would bo better served by casing the liquor law of most of its present restrictions and leaving the result to exte n ed competition. Temperance Societies, and education. The first would lesult in pure liquor being available, and flic two latter would impress upon the young the fact that alcoholic stimulants are not necessary to life but that it is more likely to be happy and prosperous without them, \\ e would far rather have seen our Legislature devoting itself to the study of the future linance of the Colony, or of the best methods of developing its many natural resources, than wasting its time and eloquence upon the discussion of subjects upon which any legislation that may he taken is only a mere experiment.