PAKAPOO RAID

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 83, 5 October 1933, Page 4

PAKAPOO RAID

ON SIXTEEN PREMISES

MANY ARRESTS

FINES TOTAL £791

• i'ortytf our. ;mojiiwere an-ested yesterday afternoon iv. the course of a pplice- raid on 16 promises in Haining, Tory, Vivian, and Taranaki Streets, iv which, it was suspected that pakaj>oo tvitS being played. ■ At 2.30 13.m. a force of three sergeants and 30. constables, under the leadership of Senior-Sergeant D. Scott, and: carrying warrants issued under tho Gaming Act, began a systematic search. Crowds soon collected outside tho places raided to watch tho 21 Chinese and'thc "23" Europeans who were arrested conveyed to the Mount Cook police station, the police van having to make five trips for that purpose. A quantity of betting material was seized. Fines totalling £791 were imposed by. Mr. E. Page, S.M,, when the men appeared before him in the Magistrate's Court today. All except one pleadod guilty. For keeping common gaming-houses the following Chines© were each fined £50, in default three months' imprisonment: —Ah Lym, aged 36, Les Young, aged 38, Fee Young, aged 33, Ah Jang, aged 27, George Chin, aged 40, Sue Lou, aged 44, Sing Lai, aged 45, Ti Hung, aged 54, Jen Lee, aged 32, Joe Mcc, aged 35, Joe Young, aged 42, Ah Kern, aged 30, Yee Lai, aged 42, Ah Dick, aged 40, and Ah Sue, aged 33. All were described on tho charge sheet as gaming-house keepers. The Chinese, who- were charged with being found without • lawful excuse in comrrfon ■ • gaming-houses, were each fined £3. They were Chin See, aged 28, a fruiterer; Joo Poy, aged 30, a gardener; Chow Lim, aged 54; a fruiterer," J. Cholck, aged 60, a laundryman; Ah- Sim, aged 60, a gardener; and Ah Sue, aged 2G. ■ The'following Europeans were each fined' £ 1 for having been found without lawful excuse in common gaminghouses:—George Owler, aged 52, a hawker; Alexander -Taylor, aged £2, a labourer; Oliver William. Buck, aged 6.1, a bootmaker; Patrick Burns, aged 71, a labourer, Frederick Eales, aged 32, a canvasser; Max McDougal, aged 53, storeman;' Harold. George Kingston, aged 30, a steel worker; Frederick Hugh Rossan, aged 42, a chef; Charles Applebee, aged 26, a labourer; Joseph Kenneth Gifkins, aged 25, a porter; Bernard Tier,: aged 51, a labourer; Harry Taylor, aged 55, a chainman; William James Elliott, aged 41, a cook; Heniy John Heffron, aged. 54, a Wtersiderj Frank' Cookson, aged 66, a labourer; Arthur Brown, aged 53, a caretaker; Wilfred Norris, aged 60, a motorman; Thomas Holding, aged 60, a labourer; William Hobday, aged 52, ■a- labourer; Richard Ashdon, aged 33, a seaman; William Henry Mooney, aged 60j a machinist; Hui Paese, aged 34, ■a-chef;- and John Eobert Mason, aged 47,-a paperhanger. The charges against the Chinese were heard together. The , defendants filled the dock and extended in a long lino 7 towards the back of 'the Court. • •Senior-Sergeant Scott; who prosecuted, said "that, those charged with ■using premises- as gaming-houses were pakapoo' agents occupying premises which had been under observation since August 1. Five premises had been searched by the police on August 17. They had been closed for a fortnight and then opened and carried on as usual. A police constable in plain-clothes had vsited the various houses ana had no difficulty .in purchasing pakapoo tickets. He paid 6d for them,'but there were other tickets at higher prices.-He would go back and check the tickets as the- blanks' :;were. drawn, and ho found at'ali times- Europeans on the various premises; -\ Sometimes there were "'"as' many aseight or -ten- checking the-tic-kets and: -discussing - pakapoO. One keeper in Haining Street would not sell tickets to-the constable, but there was eyidehcß that un two occasions men had :been; Seen paying him money. ■ V: -EUEOPEAN SPECULATORS. '"■ -:.f':Aie .houses maintained jnainly by European speculators?" asked Mr^ PageT Senior-Sergeant Scott replied that that was so. The Chinese found the game "iiot "profitable. The odds Were too much , against them. He said that the policehad received numerous complaints'by: telephone and by anonymous letters from the wives of men. who were not-in good circumstances.1 The wives complained, bitterly .that .the -money was .going to pakapoo instead of to the-home. As an indication of the extent of the pakapoo business, SeniorSergeant Scott mentioned that during the^fortmght that, some of the pakapoo houses had closed down,-follow-ing police action, hotel takings in the neighbourhood had risen by £20. Details of previous convictions of some of the defendants on pakapoo. and opium- charges were given by the SeniorSergeant. '~/ ■: ■ ': Jcb'OKSBL'S SUBMISSIONS. Mr. J. Meltzer pleaded, guilty on- behalf of all the Chinese. He submitted that the fact that Europeans were involved :in the case was not so serious as one might imagine. Tho Chinese were not plying their trade in open fashiO'ivbut had to be sought after by the' Europeans. There was considerable activity in the trade among the Chinese themselves, and tho Senior-Sergeant was hot. altogether correct when he said that the majority of the customers of the pakapoo establishments were white men. Mr. Meltzer thought it questionable, whether tho pakapoo trade was doing more harm to the white men than the hotels which had benefited from: the raids. There were very few avenues of employment open to Chineso in this country, said Mr. Meltzer. Most of them were market gardeners or fruiterers, and because of trade conditions many, of them were now unemployed. Although they were liable for the payment of wages tax and- unemployment tax, ifcwsis a fact that they were practically barred from obtaining relief work. Legally they wero entitled to it,: but the Department advised that it was difficult to ascertain whether tho, men were eligible, from a means point of view, and it was difficult to find congenial work for them. An additional reason, was that there was a certain roluctance shown by Europeans to working with Chinese on relief. Counsel wanted the Court to appreciate that the Chinese were not engaged in the illegal pakapoo busines altogether by choice, but that they were more or less forced into it. Ho was not attempting to justify "the offences, but he asked the] Coui-t'to take a lenient view,_ beeau«e...of. the difficult, financial position of the defendants, most of whom were married men with families to support. In fining the fifteen keepers £50 each, and the other six Chinese £3 each, Mr. Page reniarked that in spite of previous convictions tho pakapoo operations of the Chinese appeared .to reach fairly extensive proportions, the money being provided mainly by Europeans who should.have spent it on the maintenance of their own homes. EUROPEANS CHARGED. . The, twenty-three Europeans were then called in groups of one, two, and three. .None was represented by counsel, and • all- pleaded guilty, except George Owler, who was convicted after evidence had been.heard on both sides. His; explanation was that he was frequently on ' Chinese promises delivering flfjh and-canvassing for orders, _and_