• " TnE B11288 AND BETTING 'Tips!
Joseph Henry Burford, 31, postman, on bail, pleaded 'Guilty' to stealing a postal packet containing a cheque for £150. Mr. Curtis Bennett said he had been instructed by Mr. Markham to appear for the defendant, who had been in the service of the Post Office for six years, having before that been in the Army. Ho bore an exemplary character. This was an isolated ease, and the reason he stole the letter containing the cheque was that he had some months ago unfortunately given way to betting, with the result that he lost the savings of his lifetime. Mr. Markham gave evidence on behalf of the defendant, and said he had found from inquiries which he had made that the whole cause of the defendant's being in this trouble was his having followed betting `tips' in a newspaper. He took the view that the defendant was really a victim in the matter. The Recorder said their experi- ence in that Court quite coincided with the view expressed by Mr. Markham. He had frequently noticed the number of cases coming before the Court due to the pernicious influence of betting tips in the Press."
[Mr. Markham is a Liberal Member of Parliament. For a man in his position to risk incurring the enmity of the large group of newspapers, London and provincial, which is con- trolled by the proprietors of the Star requires no small courage, and he deserves our gratitude for his plain speaking. We cannot, however, agree that he is justified in his sugges- tion as regards the action of the Press as a whole in not
reporting that part of the evidence which concerned the Star.
Newspapers have a convention not to criticise each other, for which in ordinary cases there is a good deal to be said. We hold that this is one of the exceptional cases in which the rule ought to be broken. At the same time, we can under- stand the attitude of those who take a different view, and fully recognise that their action proceeds from no sinister motive. It is, however, just one of those cases in which a person out-
side a trade or profession finds it difficult to understand the inside view. In any case, we do not ourselves feel bound by the etiquette of our trade.—En. Spectator.]
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