CALL IT A SPADE

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 594, 27 July 1933, Page 4

CALL IT A SPADE

Ih print it is permissable though often inadyisabre/to describe a spade as a spade but it * is not in keeping with 'the canonS of good taste to call it an "ad'jectival shovelV it is 'pefhap's this iittle nicety in description wliich preVents the Governrheht 'J^om*' dropping 'the humbugging te'rrii '"art union" and c'alling "a * lott ery • a lottefy . ; As the Minister of Int errial Affairs ' point6d"out this week the proceeds of "the : last three art ' unlons (tp 'thb'bfficM' teriA) liave been devotet} |o/|be relief of distress in the 'Domih-

ion. This is a very right and proper thing and it is only to be regretted that the Government's pharisaical attitude has preyented it froih makihg these 'rStiirns and the cohseqtient' relief, ' } a great deal larger. Under this system, .New Zealand is merbly doing on a small scale what New Sofith Wales has been doing on a considerably larger scale and without any humbug. New 'South Wales has- prganised 'f egulaf lotteries and devotes ihe' pfbceeds to the relief of distress in various forms. New Zealand, on the other harid, officially refuses .to recognise such a Shameful thing as a lottery but piishes its' toiigue ih its 'cheek and subscribes to art unions. This is a Satisfying piece of casuistry which- deceiveS no one and merely e'mphasises the fact that the 'Go'yeTnmenf has neither the courage' to authorise straight-out lotteries nor the courage to prohibit them altogether. If an "art union" is permiSsable, a lottery which is in effect exactly the same thing is equally permissable. Nominally an ' art union has for prizesr works of art and in very many cases outside the regular £2000 permits, the Internal Affairs Department is enforcing this provision. But the Minister of Internal Affairs still persists, with Gilbertian humour, in referring to the "distribution of £10,000 from the profits of the last art union." It would be refreshing if our politicians would allow us to be honest with ourselves and admit that we are conducting a lottery system. At present we are like Mr. Micawber, never vulgarly in debt but always "pecuniarily embarrassed."