GAME OF MAH JONG.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 170, 20 July 1934, Page 14

GAME OF MAH JONG.

CHINESE PROSECUTED. COURT DISMISSES CHARGE. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) TIMARU, Thursday. A case of some interest was heard in the Police Court to-day, when Willie Won"-, a Chinese fruiterer, was charged With keeping a gaming house. Several other Chinese were charged with being found in a gaming house. The case was a sequel to a police raid, when the accused were found in the kitchen of Wong's premises playing mah jong. Each man was found with a pile ot money in front of him. The case hinged on determination ot the question whether mah jong was a game of chance and thereby an unlawful game. A police witness, Percy Chew Lee, described the game, stating that skill was involved in determining what tiles, as the pieces are called, were held by a player's opponents and what they were endeavouring to build up. _ ,

An exhibition of the game was given in Court by four Chinese. The magistrate, Mr. C. R. Orr-Walkcr, said the police case rested on whether mah jong was a gamo of pure chance or contained a sufficient element of skill to remove it from this category. The Legislature had determined certain Chinese games as unlawful, but mah jong was not included. He had come to the D conclusion that there was a substantial amount of skill in the game and the police cases must fail. The information was dismissed.