PUT OFF COURSE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 16, 19 January 1940, Page 3

PUT OFF COURSE.

ELLERSLIE VISITOR.

COMPLAINED TO S.M.

TRESPASSER FINED £15.

William Patrick Neary, a small elderly man, had a complaint to make to Mr. J. Morling, S.M., when he appeared before him in the Police Court this morning on summons to plead guilty to a charge of being unlawfully found on Ellerslie racecourse on January 2 when a race meeting was being held.

Detective - Sergeant McHugh had plenty to say about Neary. Mr. McHugh said that when Neary was found on the course and asked to leave he became abusive and cheeky. He came back three times* only to be put off each time. On a similar charge Neary had previously been fined £20, but he had not been before the Court since 1923. After that he disappeared to Australia.

"Neary is a professional tipster and is the type of man whom the racing clubs and the police are desirous of keeping off the course," Mr. McHugh added. "Having a Go." Advancing to the clerk'e table in front of the magistrate's bench, Neary threw four race books for the last Auckland Racing Club's summer meeting on the table. "There," he said to Mr. Morling, "you will not find the Gaming Act regulations printed in any of those books. Out of 160,000 persons who paid for admission to the racecourse I am the only one 'persecuted'—and I haven't had a conviction for over 20 years. And further, the racing club advertised that soldiers in uniform and those who enlisted would be admitted free. Well, I have enlisted, but I haven't been called up yet. I've been a jockey—l. started as one when I was eight years old—l've been a licensed trainer and a professional turf adviser, not an ordinary tipster. Whatever horse I mention is always having a go, which they dou't do in New Zealand." (Laughter.) Neary was fined £15.

"Phew, I'll have to take it out, then," he eaid as he returned to the beck of the Court.