largest portion of the spare capital and hard carnings of the inhabitants, plays havoc very freely indeed. I will not waste the valuable time of the Council by going into details and particu- lars, it will suffice when I say that as many as eight to ten thousand tickets are sold monthly in this Colony, and taking these at $6 each, the large capital of $30,000 to $60,000 is shown as taken away from the inhabitants every month. Palpably, therefore, the Manila lottery causes the largest drain on the purse of the population. Therefore, as it stands, the law strains as it were at a gnat while it swallows a camel. Brokers hawk about the town in broad daylight selling tickets with impunity. Men are tempted to buy. Long credits are given and payments are received in driblets. Gradually men are thus involved in debts, they become reckless, abandon their ligitimate pursuits, and launch into speculation of every kind. A few days before the winning numbers are an- nounced from Manila the habitués of the Manila lottery are seen almost distracted, neglecting their avocations, and waiting anxiously for the result of the drawings. On receipt of the news, the unfor- lunate gamester is found dejected and disconso- late, the disappointment being too great a sorrow to him. Investments in lottery tickets are worse than staking one's money on the gambling table. In the latter case loss and profit are soon settled, there is no interval of suspense, no building of castles in the air, consequently no deviation of thought from one's trade and occupation. When prizes are won, which are very rare in- deed, in eight cases out of ten the winners have been ruined. If young men they have become spendthrifts and so elated that to occupy subor- dinate positions appeared to them a degradation. If the law were to be rectified I would implore your Excellency to make both the buyer and seller of the lottery tickets punishable. I am convinced that so soon as the sale of the Manila lottery tickets is strictly prohibited in the Colony, the savings of the multitude will accumulate to enrich them. If we found the new law did not restrain the propensity of the colonists to invest in lottery tickets it might be well to establish lotteries of our own. Profits arising therefrom might be de- veted to the improvement of our public institutions. This is done by private bodies in India on ac- count of private institutions, and might è al- lowed to be adopted with advantage undez pri- vate auspices here. I remember, when this community had only two local compies of their own. Now we have several lol comnies transacting business of all descriptions, and the inhabitants are principally shareholders, therein. Money that used to be drained out of the Colony has, since the formation of these local companies remained in the island, thereby enriching the in- habitants. In prohibiting the sale of Manila lottery tickets or in permitting the establishment of local lotterics, the hard earnings of a large section of the community would be retained here, thereby helping to augment the prosperity which your policy has engendered.
The motion that the Bill do pass was put and carried without dissent,
The Council then adjourned sine die-Press.
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