ALLEGED GAMING HOUSE

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 107, 7 May 1914, Page 8

ALLEGED GAMING HOUSE

CHINESE VISITORS PROSECUTED FOURTEEN FINED. Cases arising out of the recent raid on Chinese premises in Haining-street \vere heard before Mr. D. G. A. Cooper, S.M., to-day. Sixteen Chinese appeared to answer charges of having been found on a common gaming house, to wit, No. '18, Hain-ing-street. The accused were : —-Joe Lee, Yee Gee, Gee, Ah Lum, Jim Mcc, Lee Long, Tin Bow, Ah Wong. Ah Sam, She Tong, Ah Yung, Tai Lee, Wong, Ah Hoe. Ah Yuan, and Ah Gee. Mr. J. F. W. Dickson appeared for all the defendants and entered a plea of not guilty. Sub-Inspector Shechan prosecuted. Detective-Sergeant Cassells gave evidence describing the raid. No. 18, Haining-street, was fitted i up as a gaming house. A large quantity of gambling paraphernalia was found on the premises, and in the case of Ah Yep (convicted of keeping a common gaming house) was ordered by the Court to be confiscated. Cross-examined by Mr. Dickson, witness said that very nearly every house in Haining-street was a gaming house. Ah Gee never did any work ; he was a banker, and "boss dog" of Hainingstreet. Senior-sergeant Dew gave corroborative evidence. For the defence, Mr. Dickson said that even if the Chinamen were playing dominoes, t'nat would not make the house a common gaming house. The Magistrate; I have already held that it is a common gaming house. Mr. Dickson : Oh, yes ; that will, of , course, stand. The Magistrate: It will stand for the present. Mr. Dickson, continuing, submitted that the game of dominoes was not one of chance. It was purely a game of skill, and the house was a boarding or cook house, used constantly by the Chinese. William Wolland, butcher, Torystreet, said that he had supplied Ah Yep with meat for about two months. He had supplied 15s worth of meat at a time. He thought that Ah Yep kept a boardinghouse. . Mr. Dickson then called several Chinese who swore that No. 18, Haining-street, was a boardinghouse. Numbers of Chinese frequented the place for the .purpose of getting meals. COLLAPSE OF DEFENCE. Subsequently all the accused, with the exception of Lee Long, Ah Hoe, Wong, Tai Lee, Tin Bow, and Ah Yung withdrew their plea of not guilty, and substituted oneof guilty. The Magistrate then remarked that j the only two accused regarding whom he had a shadow of doubt as to their guilt were Ah Hoe and Tai Lee. The informations against these two _ men would be dismissed, and the remaining defendants were, with two exceptions, each fined £2, with the alternative of 14 days' imprisonment. The exceptions were She Tong and Ah Yung, who,, having been previously convicted, were, fined £3, with a similar alternative. ■ Counsel intimated that tho, fines would be paid ' within 24 hours.