The Manawatu Herald. Thursday, April, 25, 1912. NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 1035, 25 April 1912, Page 2

The Manawatu Herald. Thursday, April, 25, 1912. NOTES AND COMMENTS.

The bookmaker has been banned by recent legislation from betting, therefore such a person does not legally exist. But according to recent happenings he appears to be plying his nefarious calling as freely as when he was legalised. Bookmakers appear to be flourishing in Auckland, where the police recently raided several offices of these gentry, and caught them and their clients red-handed. The result of the raid was that these human parasites and their foolish clients were fined in substantial sums. The police will go on raiding the bookies in the endeavour to stamp out the evil, but it is questionable whether this form of gambling will ever be eradicated. In order to minimise the evil it will be necessary to impress upon I’lie 1 ’ li e children of to-day, who are to he the m'maud women of to-morrow, the immorality of gambling. The wretched business is insinuating itself into one of the branches of our finest public service—the telegraph department, and it has been discovered that civil servants are in league with scoundrels whose objective is to fake betting telegrams in order to take down the bookie. The bookie’s calling is immoral, but, generally speaking, he plays the game and pays up and is a cut above the faker of telegrams. It is a pity that a department which stands so high in public estimation should have its reputation besmirched by a few weaklings in the service, who have come under the influence of moral perverts who would sacrifice any lad or usa any means to make a few pounds without earning it.