POLICE COURT.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 160, 8 July 1922, Page 7

POLICE COURT.

(Before Mr. J. W. Poynton, 5.M , .) THEFT OF A BAG. Jack Stephen or Hakaria Tipini. a young Maori, admitted having stolen a gladstone ba<? and contents, valued at £4. In'a statement to the police, Tipini said that the bag belonged to a roommate, and that he took it because he was short of money and sold it at a secondhand shop for 15/. Accused, who hails from Hokianga, was remanded for a week to enable the police to inquire into his past history. IS IT A GAMBLE? Charges of having unlawfully established a lottery within the meaning of the Gaming Act, and with having used devices of a board and darts to conduct a certain game, known as "prize dart" in a public place, and with having conducted a crame of "help-vour-neighbour" were preferred against David Livingstone, aged 45. who had been conducting a stall at the Winter Show. dhief Detective Mcllveney said the case had been brought on to obtain a magisterial ruling on the point as to whether the games were games of chance. The defendant's stall at the show employed several men and women, and attracted a number of people, including children. The player in "prize dart" threw four darts at a numbered board.

and the prize was determined hy the score obtained. He argued that the games were not those which could be practised to any great extent, and thus the player could not acquire any skill, and chance was the predominating element. Mr. Singer (for defendant) contended that neither came within the definition of the Gaming Act, and quoted an Auckland decision in 1912, wl.en hoop-la wis held to be a game of skill. Dart games could be purchased in any sports shop and thus one could practise and acquire a very large measure of skill. After an amusing test of skill by Bench and counsel, the Magistrate reserved decision, it beinsr understood that defendant be allowed to continue to conduct the g.imes in the interval before tiecision is given. CRUELTY CHARGE DISMISSED. Chhiha Ramjee was charged with working a horse while suffering from a sore shoulder. The evidence of the police went to show that the horse was dead on the street in Newmarket, that the collar was in the cart, and signs of blood on the collar. Moreover, the breast showed two sores. Corroboration of this evidence having been given, Mr. J. J. Sullivan, for the defendant, submitted that the charge for working the horse while suffering from a sore shoulder >> as not proved. The charge was not established, and, moreover, there was no evidence to show, even if it had hern proved th" hnr= had been worked, that the accused was the guilty party. Counsel for the accused asked that the case be dismissed for want of evidence. The magistrate agreed, although, he said, matters looked suspicious.