A remarkable letter on Trade Unions and gambling appears in
Wednesday's Times. Mr. Arthur Balfour, Chairman of the Sheffield Works Societies—formerly voluntary associa- tions, now approved under the Insurance Act—writes to call attention to overtures which have been made to these societies by the Turf Pool Syndicate of Geneva. The documents sent propose that the secretaries of the various societies should sell sweepstake tickets for the Lincolnshire Handicap and the Derby. The whole affair is alleged to be under the auspices of well-known leading Trade Unionists, whose names appear on the backs of the covers containing the books of tickets. The bait to the officials is "a guarantee printed on each tioket, that £1,250 and 10 per cent., after deducting working expenses, shall be paid to such trade and Labour movement as the owners of the names mentioned may select, and these persons are to attend the draw—whether in London or Geneva is not quite clear. The various secretaries are to receive for their trouble one 2s. 6d. ticket free for every eight 2s. 6d. tickets sold." The documents were all posted from an address in London. Mr. Balfour concludes by appealing to the leaders of the Labour movement to disavow such discreditable methods of raising fonds. The Government, be points out, certainly never contemplated that the organizations created by the Act should be used to distribute sweepstake tickets.
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