Gambling at Diwali.

The alarming proportions to which gambling is carried on in many places, and the extent to which money passes on such occasions to the ruin and loss of a large number of those who indulge in the harmful practice, is the subject of general complaint on occasions like the Diwali. The police would be doing enough of work if they checked even the public gambling which flourishes to public knowledge in various towns, for it is these alone with which they are authorised to deal. But what of the enormous extent to which private gambling is known to be going on such occasions and in which women and children in some cases take part. In other cases men gamble with their fellows and the women among themselves.