NOT UNLAWFUL

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 149, 23 March 1928, Page 10

NOT UNLAWFUL

THE GAME OF EUCHRE SURROUNDING CIRCUMSTANCES IMPORTANT STATEMENT BY ATTORNEYGENERAL The game of euchre has not been declared an unlawful game, according to a statement the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice (Hon. F. J. Rob leston) made yesterday in view of the public interest which has been aroused by the recent Suprenie Court decision in Christchurch regarding euchre tour■laments. , “The facts on which the recent decision was based,” said the Minister, “were that the patty prosecuted had invited the public by advertisement to attend at certain premises known as the Sydenham Football Hall for the purpose, of playing progressive euchre. A charge of 2s. Cd. was made for admission, and cash prizes up to £lO were offered to the winners of the tournament. The tournament was run purely for the purpose of private gain. On these facts the Court, following decisions on exactly the same law which is in force in England, held that the premises were what is called in law ‘a common gaming house,’ in breach of the provisions of the Gaming Act. The essential points in this case were that an admission fee was charged for entries in the euchre tournament for the purpose of winning a prize, and that prizes of value, e.g., money, were offered to the winners o( the tournament.

“I have received many letters from different Darts of the country, some of them evidently written on the assumption that the game of euchre has been declared an unlawful game. This is not so. The game becomes unlawful only if played in such circumstances as to constitute the premises where it is plaved a common gaining house. "In the prosecutions which have recently come before the Courts five out of six were cases in which the tournaments were being conducted as a matter of business by private individuals purely for the purnose of private gain; and these cases differed in no way from those of the ‘roll down’ or other similar prosecutions.”