Bingo. We think that there ought to be a clear resolution to the problem. It is not healthy to have a situation where the public is widely engaging in an activity which may or may not be illegal but certainly violates the intent of the law. Condoning a breach of the law or operating in such a way that a law is ignored, brings the body of the law into disrepute.

Different organisations appear to have received differing legal opinions from different lawyers. Of course, that may well be a question of getting what you pay for or of being told what you want to hear. If you shop around, it is not difficult to find a lawyer who will tell you almost anything.

Be that as it may, the Crown has a duty to supply the Country's opinion and to support that opinion until it is tested in the courts. If it is not prepared to do that, then the Legislature should pass legislation which makes the Government's position on gambling clear.

We have heard reports that the Attorney General's Chambers rendered an opinion that Dockyard Clocktower bingo is illegal but that the Police did not act on the advice. No one seems prepared to confirm if that is true or not.

This newspaper has great faith in the legal advice it receives from the chambers of Mello, Hollis, Jones and Martin. That advice is that the Clocktower bingo is illegal and therefore advertising to promote that Bingo would be illegal as supporting an illegal act.

Government has a problem. Clearly a large section of the public wants to play Bingo for cash. However, the fundamentalist churches, which seem to have an in with this Government, are opposed to gambling. Therefore Government does not, apparently, want to legalise gambling and it is quite probably afraid that legal Bingo would be the beginning of legalised gambling. So it tries to "have its cake and eat it too'' by ignoring Bingo so that the public can have its way, short of casinos. It is a strange and indecisive situation for any country to find itself in. Maybe the people are sending a message. In a democracy the will of the majority prevails in the end.

Right now, the people are in a strange limbo. Those people playing Bingo outside private clubs, which are protected by an anomaly in the old and poorly constructed Liquor Licensing Act, must wonder if the Police are going to pounce on their cards. There are serious opinions that their actions are illegal. With regard to Bingo in private clubs, clearly the Liquor Licensing Act was intended to allow things like Bingo on the premises of the club and club gambling of all sorts has taken place for a very long time. However, we doubt very seriously if that act was intended to allow the "club premises'' to be extended to parking lots and to television as is now taking place.

Whatever anyone might feel about gambling and about Bingo, the Government has a duty to make the situation clear.