THE BOOKMAKER.

Taranaki Daily News, 26 April 1922, Page 5

THE BOOKMAKER.

TRYING TO COME BACK. PROTEST BY THE CHURCH. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Christchurch, Last Night. At a meeting of the council of Christian congregations a resolution was carried calling the attention of the public to the attack on the public welfare now being made through the advertising columns of the newspaper press by the bookmakers of New Zealand in their endeavor to secure for themselves legal recognition as betting media. The council reminds the public (added the resolution) that the totalisator was nominally licensed in the Dominion on the express understanding that it would eliminate bookmakers, but that understanding has been broken. The council further reminds the public that in 1907, in exchange for certain restrictions imposed on the machine, bookmakers were licensed to ply their calling on racecourses and the effects were so alarming that an unprecedented demand was made for their abolition.

The council points out that the success of the petition would involve an immense extension of the volume of gambling, partly through the opportunity of investing small sums at .any time and in any place, and partly through the institution of credit betting, which is at present illegal in this country. The council reminds sportsmen in general that no games are safe from foul play when bookmakers are allowed financial interests in the results.