GAMBLING IN WAR-TIME.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 1749, 6 November 1917, Page 2

GAMBLING IN WAR-TIME.

GAMBLING, particularly in time of war, came in for severe condemnation at the hands'of'the Chief Justice, Sir Robert Stout, at the Supreme Court, Wellington, yesterday. In his charge to the Grand Jury concerning charges of conspiracy to defraud a number of bookmakers, his Honour said that, although the case was an interesting one, it -was disgraceful that such a case should come before the Court. It opened up the question, as to whether they, as citizens, were going to permit a continuation of gambling in these times of strain and stress. It was inconceivable that so much time and money should be spent in gambling when the very nation was engaged in a struggle for life and existence, when many homes were sorrowing for the loss of dear ones. It was a inflection on the Railway Department that its clerks should he engaged in gambling instead of attending to their public duties. It seemed to him that there must be some lack of control if clerks were able to use the direct wire between Trentham and Wellington in order to transmit the results of horse races. It spoke little for the moral tone of the community.