POKER PLAY IN A TRAIN

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 47, 25 February 1914, Page 3

POKER PLAY IN A TRAIN

TWO MEN FINED. AUCKLAND, 24th February. Two travellers by the Main Trunk express to Auckland yesterday afternoon. were 1 whiltng the "time away by a quiet game of poker, when two strangers stepped into the trainj at Newmarket, and evinced a sociable interest in the game. One of the playere vouchsafed that they were "doing 110 harm," a& he had already won enx shillings. On receiving tlufi information the strangers revealed themselves as Sergeant Dale and Constable Wales, on, plain clothes duty, and informed the two young men that they would be brought before a Magistrate for a breach of the Police Offences Act. The men appeared m Court to-day charged with playing a game, of chance by way of gaming. .Inspector M'Grath asked leave to amend the information and substitute a charge under section 25 of the Railway Regulations, a 6 the charge first laid was intended to deal with rogues and vagabonds, whereas the present defendants were perfectly decent young fellows. The charge was accordingly amended to one of gambling on a train in breach of the Railway Regulations. Mr. Singer, for defendants, entered a plea of guilty. Counsel said that hia clients had been havittg, as many did daily, a game of cards on a railway train coming to Auckland. Inspector M'Grath : For money. His Worship remarked that in his travel he frequently saw people playing cards on trains, but he very rarely saw money passing. Mr. Singer : They can't play poker without a "chip," and your Worship may have noticed that players often use matches. The present defendant* bought the cards on one of the station platforms. His Worship remarked that the seller of tlio cards could not presume that the purchasers were going to gamble with them. There was a serious objection to playing for money in a railway carriage, and the railway regulation against it ••was a good one, as a person sometimes came across some smart gentleman who induced Bometma from fcho country to JLU.UM.tiltuiujl^^ol^tei&JJilJk^

down. In this case the defendants were friends, who -were playing each other, and evidently not of the fraternity of tricky gentlemen referred to. The matter was consequently not serious, and the defendants would be fined 10s, and •5s 6d costs each.