FINED £50.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 188, 11 August 1930, Page 3

FINED £50.

______ > » TAMPERED WITH TELEPHONE. FORMER BOOKMAKER AT ; WHANGAREI. . ' DISCOVERY IN GARAGE. ■ I (By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.) WHANGAREI, this clay. I Charles Schon, bootmaker, of Whangarei, was fined £50 in the Whangarei Magistrate's Court this morning on a charge of wilfully interfering with the operation of a telephone under the control of the Postmaster-General. Schon pleaded guilty and elected to be dealt with summarily. Detective-Sergeant Robertson said that following investigations 25 yards of wire, concealed underground, was found connecting a buzzer in Sehon's shop with a telephone in an adjacent shed, which was owned by a man named Foster, who had given Schon permission to use the shed as a garage. When the premises were searched slips and race-cards were found, indicating that the telephone was used for some purpose in connection with racing. The magistrate, Mr. G. N. Morris, said there was an irresistible inference that the connection had been made for purposes of betting. Schon had been convicted of bookmaking and the telephone bad been removed. Then came this charge, which, to his mind, was flouting the law. Schon had been treated leniently and had apparently abused the leniency. Next time ho would be sent to gaol instead of being fined. I ! .