The Manawatu Times. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1877.

Manawatu Times, Volume II, Issue 105, 20 October 1877, Page 2

The Manawatu Times. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1877.

Among, the large number of. small Bills introduced this .Session is one in prohibition of Lotteries which Mr HallintrbduCed to the Legislative Council. A very similar Bill passed the Upper House last session but was thrown put by the representative chamberj because- *4ts prorvisions were too strict.- The present Bill, prohibits the disposal of any lauds^ ships, goods v or 'merchandise whatsoever, by any , gaihe, of skill or chance whether by the reacting, of dice, the drawing of tickets, cards, lots numbers or by ..means of any wheel or otherwise howsoever., : Tbe penalty J:or violation of this pro-i vision is £100. Promoters anxl man-' agers of a lottery ar^ to ,be subject to a penalty of :£2OO.^E^ e P^ ons are made in iavor of fonajfide Art Unions,- but the term.; a>t union 'is - strictly* defined so as £p "exclude all : shams. What will be the fate of this Bill it is hard; to predict, but the subject is one in which, many peo pie take a lively interest, and from opposite points of view.. {-.Formerly lotteries were used in England as a a source of state revenue and are, still used as .such on the* But in the early part of the present century a committee of the House of Cominons 5 reported : ¥ t)iat " The foundation of "the lottery system is so radically vicious that under no system of regulatons i is : it .possible to adopt it as an efficacious'source of revenue, and at the same time divest it of all the evils of which it has. hitherto proved so/baneful a source." Following /this report came a prohibitive enactment after which, lotteries came under the ban Of the law, and : the system languished. But of late, years 'it has gained ground again and is now one of the: popularly recognised inodes of barter. ;: It is often resorted to when an article is unsaleable at the price . Bet upon it. In every city there are windows, that •'! perpetually contain notices of raffles or lotteries in progress, and at in-t tervals gigantic lotteries ih Europe and America are advertised all over the world to which tens of thousands of people subscribe their ill spared moiety in the hope of winning the rich prize that will make, them in-: dependent bf honest work-.' Infurtherance of religious and charitable objects, too, the lottery system is in favor. .'. ;V ,'' Now it appears to us 'that any I system of commerce that nialces chance a chief factor, in the acquisition of property, is vicious, and, in proportion; as it obtains, thrift and industry' are • depreciated! ''Mb^e-' over the apportionmenjb of one prize as a "set. off to the many blanks, is altogether •at Variance with equity. Any system that'gives one j man an advantage for "^hjch others, audnpt he, have paidj s|rik|es at the th^ root ;of the great central law 6f property, which is ': : spla&t every man: is entitled .to his ppssesaibn or to an equivalent. A fictitious value, too, is in nearly every case set upon' the prize which is seldom worth the aggregate amount of subscription for which it is Kafiled. AdaTn Smith iu his " Wealth of' lSfatipns " says. "The world never saw nor ever will see a perfectly fair lottery, or^ one. in "wjiicji tlie whole gain compensated: ,the whole loss, because the undertaker could mate nothing by it. The soberest people scarce look upon

it as a folly, to pay a small sum for the chance of gaining ten thousand pounds; though^ they know that even that small Sum is perhaps 20 or 30 per cent more than the chance is worth. In order to have. a better chance for some of the great prizes, some people purchase several tickets, and other Bmall shares in a, still greater number. .There is noti however, a more certain proposition in ■' mathematics, than that the morß tickets you adre>nture upon the more likely you ore : to be/a loser. Adventure upon all the tickets in the lottery;., and you lose for certain ; and the greater .number of your tickets the. nearer you approach to this "certainty." During the discussion in the House 6n Mr Hall's Bill some of the members proposed to exempt from the prohibition all lotteries religiously or charitably connected. But if the system is vicious* -why tolerate it at all ? If the raffling of a picture in a shop is an offence so grave as to merit a fine of £200, how is it that raffling the same picture in a bazaar should merit no fine at all ? True there may be and is a difference between the moral surroundings and objects . of the religious and those oi the secular lotteries;- and ? this distinction goes a great way. Yet there is something- ■ singularly . incongruous in the church having sole right to a-system of trade that is considered too dangerous aiid vicious to allow to wbrldHngs. We feel sure the 'church does not wisli for this distinction. Lotteries - have been introduced c&ieny through the agency of lay members of religious bodies.and :have proved to be a speck of uncleanliness upon the modern church. Xhey have at times assumed suck growth and character as to strongly suggest the whip of small cords, but, as far as our observation goes, this has been tolerated rather than encouraged tjjy the heads of the, offending churclies; and any Act of Parliament tha,t would reinove the stigma from the churches, and that without tlie necessity of pastoral interference woul&have the sy m r pathy of ministers generally. Apd such an Act is what is now required-— one thlat will sweep away absolutely what is neither more norless; than a : system of gambling.* There are no argumeiits to beused in favSr of rafiles thatr are not" equally applicable to cards and dice, and while, one person shakes tlie hat- in the lighted hall it becomes him not to shake his head a> another who snuffles cards in the tap room;' \ > - Wfe ;haVe only , spoken of the character of the lottery system per se, not of the evils connected with it as concomitants and results. These certainly pertain chiefly to the class of lotteries that Mr Hairs. Bill is designed to suppress, ; and they present a phase; of the subject that may well alarm the moi*alist. *We trust Mr Hall's Bill will find a place on the statute bookj for the existing law as touching lotteries is, if not equivocal, at least inoperative.