THE GAMBLING EVIL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 81848, 17 September 1906, Page 2

THE GAMBLING EVIL.

HORSE-RACING IN CHINA, SPORT v. MONEY, To know what is done in other places may not necessarily solye local and peculiar problems, but it may assist in the formation of a definite opinion on a subject under consideration. The great totalisator question was referred to Major 6. W. S. Patterson by a representative of the Auckland " Herald" the other day. Major Patterson is a member of the committee of the Auckland Racin? Club, and he has only just returned "from a visit to the Par East. He alteadod race at Hongkong, Shanghai, and Hankow, but declined to express any opinion upon the totalisator question in New Zealand, " because," ho said, " I do r.ot yet know what the Premier had sa d about il. They have no totalisator U\ Shanghai," he said. "There (hey adhere lo the French system of !>c' : !ir ; —the pari-mutuel. The Shanghai l!:;co Club had totalisators, but did i\i-,ay

willi them. The club takes 10 peV ocnt, of the winnings of the prrinmtu'.'l and the lotteries h-aid-tho Race Club grounds, and i, a winner is unbacked on \ .>.■ I ai'i-muliiel Hie club take.; all. '_ ';e

lotteries and sweeps arc conductal burly, and the people have the utmost confidence in them, 'there arc no bookmakers and no professional riders. Gentlemen ride themselves, and racing is exceedingly ' clean' in the East, i.e., in Hongkong, Shanghai, Pekin, Hankow, and some other places. An owner would never think of not backing his own stable, although he might know that nothing in it had an earthly chance. The prizes arc very smali, say, Tls 25—£3 15s—or cups worth anything from£s to £SOO. Yes, there is a gold cup worth £SOO. Only members are admitted, and space is reserved for men-of - warsmeu and soldiers; but the Chinese are kept outside, although there are tiro stands erected for them at points overlooking the course. I think racing in the places I have named is the ' cleanest ' I know of, and approaches as near the sporting ideal as it is possible to do. It proves, I think, that racing can be conducted without gambling, and that men can feel something more than a merely pecuniary interest in it,"