Colonel Tannett Walker, a large employer of labour at engineering works near Leeds, said that betting was the very worst thing any one could take to, and did a great deal of harm. The workman very often knew nothing whatever of horses. His usefulness was destroyed by betting, however skilful he might be, as so much of his time and thought were taken up with it. He would favour anything that would put a stop to street betting. The boys were encouraged to bet in the workshops.
Mr. Lamb, second secretary to the Post Office, said there were 82 special telegraphists engaged at Doncaster Races; 30,000 private telegrams were sent off. Gambling in any form was regarded as a most serious offence in that Department, and any of its servants are thereby rendered liable to dismissal. Employees were often tempted in the course of their duty while attending to betting telegrams.
Sir Robert Hunter, solicitor to the Post Office, explained that there was not the same power over betting as over lottery communications, owing to an interpretation of the Advertising Act of 1874 confining it to such betting as was localised in a particular house or place.
The Duke of Devonshire, Minister for Education, had been engaged on racing for a considerable time. Thought that there was nothing wrong or immoral in betting. He would very much regret its being stopped: it would seriously injure the national amusement of horse-racing. He thought betting the support of racing. Saw nothing wrong in the bookmaker’s profession, and, in reply to a question as to their taking small sums from children in poor neighbourhoods, he said he had no knowledge of that sort of betting. He could not give any opinion about licensing. He did not know at what point betting was too general.
Mr. Robert Knight, J.P., Newcastle, for twenty-nine years secretary of a Trades Union numbering 50,000 members, had thirty-two years’ experience of the working classes. Betting was largely on the increase among them, especially young men and women. In three and a half hours a bookmaker in South Shields was seen to take 236 bets. Bookmakers went from door to door inducing women to bet. Some took as little as sixpence. Employers found that intelligent, concentrated effort cannot be got from minds absorbed in betting. He would neither employ nor trust men who indulged in it. The facilities offered by the press are largely responsible. Betting among the young had become rampant. Lads of bright intellect were found to develop cunning instead of character. If the betting craze was not checked the sober youths of Germany would take the reins of the commercial world. The odds, tips, and bettings news should be abolished from the newspapers. The Trades Unions endeavoured to stop betting, and would not appoint a man known to indulge in it to any place of authority or trust.
Rev. J. W. Horsley, M.A., J.P., Rector of St. Peter’s, Walworth, for ten years prison chaplain, during which time 100,000 people passed through his hands, said betting was a frequent source of trouble. In one gaol there was a whole wing set apart for these prisoners. It was now increasing more than ever. He considered the example of the aristocracy greatly to blame; and said that if the King would stay away from race-courses where professional betting went on it would do more than anything else to assist in putting an end to it.
IV
OPINIONS OF EMINENT MEN ON BETTING AND GAMBLING
The late Chief-Justice Russell.—“Street betting is a most undesirable practice. A state of things exists which, if it can be stopped, ought to be stopped.”