Gambling
Clearly to the hands of the Government in dealing with the damage of dishonesty. And it is, I think, obvious that an interest in fostering a vice, when all efforts, as far as the Government can, might be in the direction of checking it.
So much has been written on this point that I do not suggest the time of day debating it.
The 15th clause needs alteration so far as the branding and flogging penalties are concerned. Branding can only be justified in some very rare cases, where it is of real importance to be able to identify the criminal.
The flogging of gambling houses under Government supervision is open and reasonably open to discussion. I do not attach much weight to the argument that such a measure lends the countenance of the State to the practice of gambling. The real danger is that the local Government may take advantage of it as a matter of revenue. This has to be guarded against. I therefore am disposed to allow the Government to bring the Ordinance into operation in the manner proposed by His Excellency the Governor.
It will be right to indicate the principle upon which I give this permission, that it is not one of indifference to the evils of gambling in the Colony, but that having regard to the extreme radical and demoralizing effects it has on the rating Community brought under notice, and that finding the treatment authorities under the present system...