28 APRIL 1923, Page 3

Sir Robert Kindersley. expressed his views on- the proposed Betting

Tax in last Sunday's- Observer: A pronouncement from so high an authority on public thrift is important The whole • of the first part of- his statement was an exposure of the economic waste- of betting and seemed to imply a feeling against- any form of State- recognition. But he went on to say that the habit of betting • was so widespread that it could not be suppressed, and that therefore- the imposition of a tax might curtail it and at the- same time raise a sum- for the revenue and so " was distinctly advisable." For our part, while we more than agree as to the evils, both economic and moral, of betting, we do not believe that the formal recognition by the State of a fact which it has always tolerated will increase betting by one wager.