GAMBLING IN CHRISTCHURCH.

Tuapeka Times, Volume VII, Issue 364, 13 June 1874, Page 3

GAMBLING IN CHRISTCHURCH.

Another foul and hrutal murder, in which the perpetrator of the deed will escape punishment till the day of judgment, in company with his abettors, both direct and indirect ! Some few years ago a good woman contracts a marriage which is generally looked upon as an auspicious event. . Thp 'husband reaches a comparative independence, and everything in life is progressing satisfactorily. But there are certain houses in this admirably-conducted city in which gambling of the lowest order goes on all night long and frequently till daylight on Sunday mornings. The proprietors of these liouses are the direct abettors, the authorities the indirect. Our hero thinks fit to patronise one of these houses for one night only, then for two nightß only, and so on. For some most unaccountable reason the woman endeavours to persuade her husband that it would be perhaps preferable to all parties concerned if he stopped at borne. Not he, indeed ; he is patriotically assisting to maintain the public revenue by way of public-house licenses and custom duties. After a time this pattern man thinks fit to remind his wife that he is master by a severe blow in the mouth. Further recrimination ensues, the blows become more frequent, until one given at a most critical periodanswers the purpose admirably, and the victim "is lying a corpse ; the perpetrator of the murder, the abettors direct and indirect, . looking calmly on, and thinking, " Really, how very funny ! Who would have though*, it?" I may add that I am carefully watching seveu or eight more-interesting cases, in which the wri&ched wives are looking more wan and haggard -every day, the'ohildren are badly clothe ( and poorly fed, and thehushands are -getting further and f urtlier enclosed i in the meshes of these moral vampires, under the most complete cognisance >«f the police authorities. As they drop off one by one, succumbing to the fearfully unequal odds in their terrible battle of life, I will make your readers fully acquainted with the particular!, — "-Daily T-imes" Correspondent. t