[To THE EDITOR OP TEE "SPECTATOR. " ]
Sin.,—The upshot of the correspondence on the above subject seems to prove (1) that the publication of betting news is detrimental to the public interest; (2) that it is exceedingly difficult to omit it from a morning paper, and practically impossible to do so from an evening one. The conclusion reached is that when a proprietor shows by his action that he has the courage to risk loss by omitting the objectionable feature, and thus proves his desire to elevate the Press, he alone of all men is barred from having an interest in any other paper, unless he is a "canting hypocrite." The con- clusion seems a strange one. I fear that it is very improbable any of our newspaper proprietors will have the courage to omit betting news in the future, seeing that should they own other papers (as some do) they must never try the experiment with one paper unless they can face the accusation of hypocrisy because they do not at once abolish it in all, and so ruin themselves inevitably. But if only they are content to do nothing, they will be safe from abuse ; and, in fact, if they wish, may point out the inconsistency and cant of their
rival proprietors.—I am, Sir, &c., H. M. PATILL. Cocoa Tree, St. James's Street, S.W.
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