Tattersall's Covers

[Jeffharris]

I have a query re the Tattersall covers. George Adams held his first public sweep in N.S.W in 1881. However, religious groups objected to this activity and 1892 the N.S.W. government prohibited "delivery of letters containing sweeps". Adams promptly moved to Queensland but similar legislation was introduced there. He moved to Tasmania in 1895, and not long after his arrival the Tasmanian Governor [Sir Edward Braddon] introduced a bill [which was strongly opposed] which was known as the "Suppression of Public Betting & Gaming Act". This act outlawed betting shops but legalised 'certain' lotteries. George Adams "Tattersalls" lottery was one of the beneficeries of this act. This lottery continued in Tasmania for 58 years. To date, I have not found any regulations that prohibited delivery of letters containing lottery tickets, but I would be grateful if someone could advise what the regulations were. My query relates to the absence of Tatts. covers existing that were actually addressed to Tattersalls. I have about 30 covers sent from S.A. and North East Tasmania that were addressed to private individuals, bank managers, the Mercury and various companies that existed in Hobart. All the covers have been spiked once or twice, and none of them has a return address on the back. Obviously the covers have found their way to Tattersalls office, but why? Was there a requirement that the letter in the envelope requesting the ticket[s] had to be produced before the lottery tickets were issued? Also, why wouldn't the letters be addressed to Tattersalls. Was there a regulation that permitted only those people living in Hobart to purchase tickets for themselves or for others living in the other areas of the state [as well as for those living on the mainland]? Whilst this may not be of great philatelic importance, it is interesting, as it deals with one of largest group of covers that have survived from the Federation period.

[David McNamee]

The most current reference to answer your questions on Tattersalls/George Adams operations before and during the Postal Ban is "Beating the Odds" by David McNamee (RPSV, 2002) available at major philatelic libraries and in the Tasmaniana section of the State Library of Tasmania and for sale from the Royal Philatelic Society Victoria. The Commonwealth passed the Post and Telegraph Act in December 1901, and the Commonwealth PMG announced a ban on delivering mail to certain proscribed mail lotteries, including Tattersalls, effective 31 March 1902, citing Section 57 of the Act as his authority. "Beating the Odds" tells the story from that point forward: how a network of agents and some dummy companies were set up to keep the mail flowing, and how the Postal Inspectors were hot on their trail. Prior to Federation, each colonial postal system ran under its own laws, and as you found out, Tasmania found it more lucrative to regulate the lottery than ban it. The postal revenues were tremendous, and they all accrued to Tasmania until Federation made the postal system a Commonwealth operation.

Also of interest might be "A Handbook and Catalogue of Tattersall's Covers," also by David McNamee (Brusden-White Publishing, 2006) available in the same libraries mentioned above and for sale from Brusden-White. Here you will get to view the breadth and depth of Tattersall's alias address scheme, where cooperating individuals (many of them friends or employees of George Adams) and cooperating businesses became alias addresses for Tatts, forwarding all correspondence to Tatts as received.

These two books summarize and extend the previous knowledge published on the subject. Enjoy! David

[Jeffharris]

Thank you David for your detailed and very interesting response to my query. I presume that when the mail was forwarded to Tattersalls office it was done by hand delivery. Would the postal inspectors have been permitted to check the mail after it had been received by Tattersalls staff? The envelopes were not discarded and as we all know, finished up on filing spikes! A quick search of the premises should have revealed what was happening.

[David McNamee]

The covers were forwarded by hand delivery (or pick up by Tatts runners). Printed and numbered receipts were given, the stub of which was glued to the top envelope of a bundle. The receipts were usually gray but occasionally white, and you will see some covers from the era with stub attached or evidence that one was attached.

The Commonwealth postal officials in Tasmania, who were State employees the day before, as well as many in State Government were pals of George Adams, and there was a lot of "wink-wink" going on. I have seen Tatts covers using official PO stationery, and you ocassionally see covers from overseas that apparently went direct to Hobart (not through Melbourne or Sydney) addressed to George Adams/Tattersall even during the postal ban. One cover from South Africa came in underpaid, was taxed, and postage due collected by the PO from Tatts even though it was addressed to a prohibited address! There are scads of returned mail where gambling advertisements were sent but came back as undeliverable/unknown at the address, etc. and the returned mail was delivered by the Tas PO. Adams was exceptionally good for economic growth, and Tatts brought in a lot of business to Tasmania. It was in conservative Melbourne and to some extent in South Australia that the anti-gambling lobby was the strongest. Western Australia was just about as cooperative as Tasmanian officials, with Queensland and NSW sort of in between. Pretty much, if the envelope made it across Bass Strait, no one was going to make any fuss over it. Where the postal inspectors in New Zealand and Melbourne cracked down was on a number of dummy businesses set up in those areas to take walk-ins and consolidate the mails for shipment as parcels across the Strait: "Tasmanian Parcel Delivery Service" had branches as far away as Noumea and Wellington as well as Adelaide and Melbourne. Tatts hotel in Sydney operated that way, and a separate storefront lottery shop operated openly in Western Australia for awhile, owned and operated by Tatts pals.

[Jeffharris]

Thank you again. This is a remarkable story. One of the positives from this, is the large number of covers that have survived from that era, even though most of them have been damaged. Fortunately, some of them can be repaired.