CHURCH BAZAARS AND RAFFLING.

Manawatu Herald, 7 December 1893, Page 3

CHURCH BAZAARS AND RAFFLING.

TO THE EDITOR OF THR MANAWATU HERALD. Sib, — Gambling is acquiring or endeavouring to acquire the money or property of another by hazard or chance. It includes raffling, as the successful raffler acquires the article raffled by chance. The Parliament of New Zealand, by passing a law to prevent gambling, has admitted its evil tendency. The sin and ruin that often follow in its wake have stamped gambling as a particularly heinous sin. The late Bishop of Manchester, I speaking on the subject of gambling, is j reported' tcr have said, that a. gambler I should alter the Lord's prayer to " Give j me this day zriy brother's daily bread." ■ If there is one national sin more than! another 'that the Churches of New Zealand ! should preach, against, it is the sin of ' gambling ; and yet we find gambling pro- i moted at Church Bazaars under the form j of raffling. Baffling renders persons i engaged in the practise liable to a Tine of '' £200 for the first offence, and to a like tine : and six months imprisonment for a second i offence. The heavy penalty inflicted in- ' dicates Parliament's view of the enormity j of the offence. I It is said that if the Colonial Secretary j give permission to raffle at a Bazaar, that cures the evil. But surely to have a j license to commit a sin, does not alter the j ohoracter of the sin, it simply screens the j offender from punishment. We should I have the humiliating exhibition of sin at a ! Church Bazaar going unpunished, whilst a townsman for a like offence is prosecuted and fined. Is a Church, during Bazaar day to be a teacher of sin, instead of a reprover of sin ? Are our children to be able to say, I acquired a taste for gambling at a Church Bazaar.— l am, etc , A Townsman.