against the bye-law), he maintained that there was
nothing improper about them (Q. 411, 552, 561).
Mr. Hawke also gave evidence as to the corruption
of the public services and British sports by the pro-
fessional betting system, and of its disastrous effects,
especially among the wage-earning classes. Amongst
the records of his Society taken from the courts of
law in five and a half years were 80 suicides, 321 em-
bezzlements, and 191 bankruptcies, the witness pointing
out reasons for believing that these numbers were very
much below the true totals.
Mr. Hawke said that his Society held the same
opinion as that published by Sir Fitzjames Stephen
(author of the Digest of the Criminal Law) in the
Nineteenth Century Magazine, July 1891, who said that
the business of a betting agent was carried on in defi-
ance of the general body of the law, and added, *' The
existence of such a person appears to me to be an
insult to the law." The National Anti- Gambling
League made the following recommendations, based upon
a study of the question lasting over eight years : ā
Street and Public Place Increased fines and imprison-
Betting. ment.
Newspaper Coupon Bet- Making it illegal to publish
ting. Advertisements of English
and foreign betting-houses.
Tipsters^ Circulars. Making illegal to issue.
Paying Bets in Public- Making illegal.
houses.
206 BETTING AND GAMBLING iii
Areas controlled by Pri- Amending the Act of 1853 if
vate Proprietors. the Powell v. Kempton Park
case should be accepted as
the correct construction of
the Act.
Publication of the Betting Making illegal.
Odds (S.'P. or Ante-
post).
Trade of Professional Making illegal.
Betting.
Colonel Fludyer (commanding Scots' Guards), Chaii'-
man of Tattersall's Committee, said that they spent a
great deal of time in adjusting betting disputes. He
advocated licensing bookmakers who plied their trade
away from the race-course, but leaving things at races
as they are.
Chief Constable of Manchester said that the
increase in betting was chiefly among artisans and
the working classes generally, resulting in neglect of
wives and children, disregard for parents, becoming
careless and indifferent in their occupations, and fre-
quent embezzlements from their employers. Betting
was general at athletic meetings in the Manchester dis-
trict, many of them depending on it for financial
success. The Kempton Park decision had prevented
police action. In many instances competitors perform
only to suit the books of the betting men. Street
betting M^as the most pernicious form of the evil.
Some publicans pay street bookmakers to carry on in
proximity to their houses. He advocated a large fine
and imprisonment for street offenders. Incitements
to betting in newspapers should be restrained, and the
transmission by post of betting matter should be made
illegal.
Sir Albert de Eutzen, chief Metropolitan Police
Magistrate, spoke with twenty-five years' experience of
Ill APPENDICES 207
the Bench in saying that more mischief was brought
about by betting than by almost any other cause,
especially street betting, which could very well be put
down if proper steps were taken. He would increase
the fine for a second ofi'ence, and for the third treat
a bookmaker as a rogue and vagabond under the
Vagrants Act. From personal knowledge he could say
that the evil arising from lietting was as deep-seated as
it was possible to be. In cases Avhere persons prose-
cuted for embezzlement and betting was mentioned as
the cause, his Court was in the habit of making in-
quiries, which invariably confirmed the statements.
With regard to the Kempton Park case, he could not
understand how they were not committing an offence on
the race-course while they were condemned for doing
the same thing in public-houses.
Mr. Horace Smith, Metropolitan Police Magistrate,
said he entirely concurred with what Sir A. de Eutzen
had said with regard to the need for more repressing
laws. Where the crime had been one of fraud or em-
bezzlement he had invariably found that betting had
been at the bottom of it.
Mr. Luke Sharp, Official Receiver for Birmingham,
gave evidence upon betting as a cause of bankruptcy.
Master of Harrow : Betting in the school was
largely due to the parents, who encouraged it. It was
chiefly in the form of sweepstakes on big races. They
also suffered by circulars from foreign betting-houses,
which the Post Ofiice transmitted.
F. W. Spruce, a betting man, thought that the
number of bookmakers had greatly increased, that the
trade would be improved and street betting reduced by
licensing, but that otherwise there should be free trade
in professional betting.
James Suiters, another betting man, also advocated
licensing. He thought that street betting might with
advantage be restrained, but considered it a very
208 BETTING AND GAMBLING iii
respectable trade, although he agreed that it was not
becoming for women.
Mr. Charles Gould, J.P., Epsom, had complained
to the Home Office of the inadequacy of the police force
sent to Epsom Eaces. The last communication he had
received was to the effect that the Home Secretary had
been informed that as there were several thousands of
these dishonest betting men, it would be impossible to
provide sufficient police protection.
Mr. Russell Allen, managing proprietor of the
Manchester Evening Neiv.% gave evidence as to the harm
done by the betting press, particularly the halfpenny
papers, with their racing editions, which conduced
largely to the class of betting done in the street by
working men, concerning which he read letters from
employers of labour attributing fraud and embezzlement
to their work-people betting. Great numbers of bets
were also made inside the works. His own newspaper
had given up tips and tipsters' advertisements, and had
suffered accordingly. It was not prudent for a news-
paper to go beyond that single-handed. If starting
prices were made illegal of publication for all alike, it
would have a great effect.
Superintendent Shannon, of the L Division, Metro-
politan Police, had had great experience of the
evils of street betting. Last year^ in Lambeth 441
persons had been proceeded against. They were fined
over Ā£2000 in all One man was fined sixteen times
in the year. Every large firm's employees in South
London were waited on by one or more bookmakers.
All the bookmakers employed scouts to give them
warning.
Superintendent Wells, of the Limehouse Division,
said there had been a great increase in street betting in
East London in the last few years. One man was fined
twenty-eight times and one twenty-seven. The book-
1 1900.
Ill APPENDICES 209
makers took ixp their stands outside the railway stations
and factories, and in the busy streets. They were thus
enabled to catch the workmen going to or from their
work.
Lord Provost Chisholm, of Glasgow, gave evidence
with the knowledge and sanction of the Corporation.
Betting had increased all round, especially street betting
with the industiial classes. He spoke both from personal
knowledge and the complaints made to him by citizens.
Betting was carried on to a large extent in factories and
workshops, the bookmakers sometimes having their own
agents employed in them. He would make the penalties
more severe, and would seize all money found on book-
makers and imprison them. He believed public opinion
would support such measures. He was opposed to
licensing bookmakers. Women were in the habit of
lietting with bookmakers like men.
Chief Constable of Glasgow : He agreed with
the evidence of the previous witness. Licensing would
only encourage the bookmakers. They ought to be im-
prisoned. There was very great risk of the police being
tampered with by bookmakers. Some had already been
l^ribed. Many Glasgow bookmakers did business by
telegram and letter. The Post Office had been com-
plained to, but could do nothing.
Mr. Bryan Thoinias, Hon. Sec. of a Labour
Organisation, said he had forty years' experience among
the working men of East London. He would do away
with street betting entirely. He would treat the book-
makers as rogues, and give them three months' hard
labour.
Rt. Hon. Jas. Lowther, M.P., a member of the
Jockey Club for tAventy-five years, did not think that
large bets had increased of late years, but betting was
more widely diffused, and not confined to sporting circles.
He considered that there had been a great increase of
betting all round. He could not suggest any way of
P
210 BETTING AND GAMBLING iii
reducing the misery caused by it. He saw difficulties
in the way of licensing bookmakers.
Mr. W. B. WoODGATE, the Avell -known aquatic
authority, would license bookmakers, and would fine
any of them practising without a licence Ā£500 or six
months' hard labour. The witness related a case of
police bribing which he had brought before the authori-
ties at Scotland Yard, but it ended in nothing owing to
their careless handling of it.
Mr. Edward Hulton,^ jun., of the Manchester
Sjjorting Chronicle, Avas against the prohibiting the
publication of the odds, and in favour of licensing
bookmakers.
Mr. J. Bain, formerly a member of Tattersall's Club,
also of the Victoria, Beaufort, and Albert Clubs, gave
evidence as to the poisoning of race-horses for the
purposes of the betting market, and how leading book-
makers Avere laying heavily at the club against the
poisoned horses before the general public knew of what
had been done. He also showed that many of the prices
quoted in the newspapers were mere bogus quotations
to induce the outside public to bet.
Colonel Tannett Walkkr, a large employer of
labour at engineering works near Leeds, said that
betting Avas the very worst thing any one could take to,
and did a great deal of harm. The workman very often
kneAv nothing whatCA^er of horses. His usefulness was
destroyed by betting, hoAvever skilful he might be, as
so much of his time and thought were taken up Avith it.
He Avould favour anything that Avould 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 Avere 82 special telegraphists engaged at Doncaster
Races; 30,000 private telegrams Avere sent off. Gambling
^ See conviction for Betting Coupon Competitions (E. Hulton
and Co., Ltd.) in Manchester, November 1901.
Ill APPENDICES 211
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 Avhile 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, iMinister for Education,
had been engaged on racing for a considerable time.
Thought that there Avas nothing Avrong 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 liookmaker'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 work-
ing 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 six-
pence. 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
212 BETTING AND GAMBLING iii
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 an}'^
place of authority or trust.
Eev. J. W. HoRSLEY, M.A., J. P., Eector 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 Aving 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
Avhere 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. ā " Street betting is
a most undesirable practice. A state of things exists
which, if it can be stopped, ought to be stopped."
Mr. Justice Wills. ā " When I first came upon the
Bench I used to think drink was the most fruitful
cause of crime, but it is now a question whether the
unlimited facilities for illegitimate speculation on the
part of people who have no means of embarking on it
are not a more prevalent source of mischief and crime
even than drink."
Mr. Justice Hawkins. ā " I know nothing more
likely to ruin a young and inexperienced man than
the system of betting which goes on around us."
Mx. Justice Grantham. ā " Gambling -with book-
makers is the cause of more crime and misery than
anything else in the land."
Mr. Justice Darling. ā " No one could attend the
Civil and Criminal Courts without knowing that many
persons spent a much larger amount of time in betting
than they devoted to their own business."
Mr. Horace Smith (London Stipendiary Magistrate).
ā " Nearly every case of embezzlement I try has re-
sulted from betting, and then to pay their losses they
rob their employers."
213
214 BETTING AND GAMBLING iv
Alderman Sutton (Newcastle Magistrate). ā "The
working men of the north of England put money on
horses, and when they lose take their employers'
property."
Chairman of Magistrates (Seacome Bank em-
bezzlement case). ā " The whole secret of the wrong-
doing seems to be in the systematic agency employed
all over the country to tempt men from the path of
rectitude and virtue."
Mr. Bros (London Stipendiary Magistrate). ā
"Betting is generally the downfall of clerks and
servants who are charged with embezzlement."
Coroner for Mid-Surrey. ā "The poor lad, like
many thousands of others, was led away by the
fallacious idea that he was going to make money by
backing horses. Men earning fifteen or twenty shillings
a week cannot afford to lose sixpence in betting."
Chief - Constable of Southampton. ā " Street
betting is a disgrace to the town. One man is making
Ā£1000 a year by it."
Birmingham Official Receiver. ā "Half of the
bankruptcies which come before me are due to
gambling."
General Wavell. ā " I have been speaking to an
officer, who says it is perfectly piteous to see the way
our young soldiers, drummer boys, trumpeters, and
others rush off to get the halfpenny newspapers, not to
ascertain how their comrades are faring, but simply to
get the betting odds and nothing else."
Bradford School Board Resolution. ā "The
attention of the Board having been called to the
general prevalence of betting and gambling, and the
appalling evils arising therefrom, it is hereby resolved
that the teachers be requested to take every opportunity
to point out to the scholars the injurious effect of the
vice."
Mr. Curtis Bennett (Marylebone Police Court).
IV APPENDICES 215
ā "I am convinced from my experience as a Magis-
trate that nothing is so productive of crime among
young people as street betting. It is an evil far worse
than drunkenness, and I agi-ee with Mr. Justice Wills
that it is the greatest curse of this country."
Chairman of Croydon Bench. ā " It seems a very
good paying game. I think the Government, as soon
as they have time, Avill have to take into considera-
tion whether the law should not be altered." These
remarks were called forth by a bookmaker who had
been summoned, producing a handful of sovereigns,
and suggesting that it would save time for him to pay
the fine at once without the evidence being heard.
Luton Town Councillors : ā
Alderman Oakley, J. P. ā " The Watch Committee
reports show that betting is much on the increase. It
is even afiecting school children."
Alderman DillinghaN. ā "It breaks up many homes
and leads j^eople to rob their employers. It is the fore-
runner of drunkenness."
The Deputy Mayor. ā "It is a grave temptation."
Mr. AVarren. ā " It is bringing a great calamity on
the land. It is one of the biggest evils England has
to contend with. The young people in Luton are led
away to an alarming extent."
Alderman Sir J. Renals. ā " Street betting has
become an intolerable nuisance in the city."
Lord Chief- Justice (Lord Alverstone). ā " Sport
never ought to be of necessity associated with gambling
or betting. Those who had to do with the administra-
tion of the law knew that there was nothing in their
great towns ā and he was afraid in the smaller ones
too ā that brought more people in the humbler walks of
life misery and ruin than the betting agents."
Bishop of Liverpool (Dr. Chavasse). ā " He called
upon them, in the name of their Master Christ, to rise
216 BETTING AND GAMBLING iv
up and fight this awful foe of gambling and betting,
lest they ate the heart out of the Church and nation,
and a just God punished them with a righteous
retribution."
Recorder of Bath (Mr. H. C. Folkard). ā " He
was afraid that the pernicious practice of betting and
gambling was becoming very prevalent throughout the
country. Many gave way to the evil who were in
good situations and positions of trust. The bookmakers
were a great evil."
Lord Charles Beresford. ā "The worst of all
vices. On board a ship it is particularly pestilent. Its
practice has destroyed many fine characters, and has
been the means of causing unbounded misery to
innocent and deserving persons."
Sir George White (of Ladysmith). ā " I know the
evil eff'ects of gambling. Society in which gambling is
promoted fails in all the higher aims. Instead of its
members being drawn into real friendship, they generally
dislike and distrust each other."
Admiral Sir H. H. Rawson. ā " I have no hesitation
in saying that next to drunkenness I think gambling is
one of the worst and most dangerous of the vices. I
have always set my face against it, as I have seen three
or four cases where it has led to most terrible conse-
quences. It becomes a regular mania and an absorbing
business."
Admiral Swinton Holland. ā " It is ruining some
of our finest English sports, specially football."
Prince Louis of Battenberg. ā "As regards a
man-of-war, there is one aspect which is not always
borne in view. Two men of different service rank
gambling together ; the senior loses money to the
junior, perhaps more than he can pay at once. Think
of the effect on discipline."
Mr. J. G. Butcher, M.P. ā " I am disposed to think
(though I have no accurate information upon the sub-
IV APPENDICES 217
ject) that the practice of betting and gambling prevails
amongst larger sections of the community than in
former times. If that be so, I regard it as a national
calamity. Once the practice is begun it is exceedingly
difficult for those who engage in it to limit their losses
to such sums as they can easily afibrd to lose. The best
forms of sport ā such as cricket, football, and even horse-
racing ā can, in my judgment, be most fully enjoyed
without staking money on the result."
Mr. Richard Bell, M.P. (Secretary Amalgamated
Society Raihvay Servants). ā " There is nothing, to ray
mind, which is so damning to the progress of the work-
ing classes as the gambling Avhich is now practised in
every town in England. This is not, unfortunately,
confined to horse-racing, but it has now spread to foot-
ball, cricket, and almost everything else. During the
period of prosperity, Avhen a large number of workers
are earning good wages, it is regrettable to think that
they do not take care of the few extra shillings they then
receive, but indulge so freely in drinking and gambling,
so that when they are meeting with a little depression
they are entirely at the mercy of the employers, and
have to put up with circumstances which they otherwise
would not."
Archbishop of York. ā "I heartily wish you
success in your effort to stay the progress of this
terrible plague, Avhich is bringing misery and ruin upon
thousands of oiu" fellow-countrymen."
Mr. Justice Ridley. ā " The Gaming Act, though
designed to prevent betting, has not brought about that
result."
Common Serjeant of London. ā "Gambling in
hopes of realising large profits by chance, then when they
lost instead of winning they were impelled to reimburse
themselves by dishonesty."
Mr. Justice Bucknill. ā " This betting curse, which
is being carried on in a shocking manner, has got to be
218 BETTING AND GAMBLING iv
put down with a severe hand, and, so far as I am
concerned, I will do so to the utmost of my power."
John Hawke (Hon. Sec. National Anti-Gambling
League). ā " Gambling is becoming a worse evil and a
more serious cause of poverty than drink."
Rt. Hon. Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman. ā " I
long ago formed the opinion that betting and gambling
come next to drink (and doubt even if they come below
it) in the measure of the curse they bring upon
society."
The late G. F. Watts. ā "I look across our English
world and see clearly and distinctly the two vices which,
more than anything else, are obstructing the wheels of
progress : drinking and gambling. They are apparent
to the least observant of men. You cannot take up a
paper or walk through the streets of a city, without
realising the awful ruin which these two evils are work-
ing in the world. But if this is the general agreement
of mankind, why is there no concentration of national
energy on the subject ? Think how great a revolution
would be wrought in English character and in English
health if legislation set itself sternly to the task of
preventing drunkenness and gambling. Just those
two things ! Is it not possible for political parties to
sink their party differences, and to combine to fight
against these two root causes of national degeneration
and national unrest ? Surely, surely ! "
V
A NOTE ON PEDESTRIANISM
The following notes may prove interesting, as showing
how attempts are made to corrupt one of the best
and healthiest of all sports.
Mr. Charles Souch says : ā " I am now groundsman
for the Cheetham Cricket Ground, Cheetham, Man-
chester, and I reside near the ground. I Avas for several
years groundsman for the Manchester Athletic Club,
Fallowtield.
" I have taken a prominent part in sports and athletic
meetings all over the country for the past twenty-three
years, and am still running. I have fifty-five medals,
watches, clocks, cups, etc., etc., which I have won to any
number.
"In 1892 I won the Northern Cross-country 10-mile
Championship. I ran second to Parry in 1888 in the
National Challengeship. I could fill pages of races I
have taken part in and athletic meetings I have attended,
but you want my experience of the honesty or other-
wise of persons competing and taking part in these
sports. Well, my opinion is, and I may say it is
perfectly plain to be seen by any one who likes to look,
that wherever there are betting men and bookmakers at
athletic meetings then the running is dishonest. It is
true that I have attended amateur athletic sports in a
small way where absolutely no betting was done ; then
219
220 BETTING AND GAMBLING v
every person competing tried his very best, but this is
the exception.
" On one occasion, at a small meeting near Coventry,
I was on the scratch at a half-mile hurdle race. I was
giving 100 yards limit. Just prior to the race starting,