16 MAY 1914, Page 3

The question of the relation of the Press and gambling

was discussed at the Dublin Yearly Meeting of the Society of Friends. From the report which appears in the Friend of the 8th inst. we learn that the subject was introduced by Mr. S. H. Newsom, who referred to the action of some members of the London Yearly Meeting in promoting newspapers which encouraged the practice of betting and gambling. Though it had not been customary for the Dublin Yearly Meeting to discuss matters relative to the discipline of the London Yearly Meeting, the two were so much identified that what affected the credit and reputation of the one touched also the credit and reputation of the other. This fellow-feeling bad led to a sense of humiliation in view of the action referred to and the comments of the public Press on the matter. An even stronger view was expressed by Mr. James N. Richardson, who observed that this was not a case of an inexperienced young man acting from impulse; these were good men who somehow had brought themselves to justify actions through which lives and homes might be ruined, in the hope of good results. The fair honour of the Society, be declared, had been smirched. Further discussion was closed, not without protest, on the understanding that the Epistle Committee should include a paragraph referring to the matter in the draft of the Epistle to London. The Friends are not " flyers " —e par ei mauve.