WEEKEND BEER
LOTTERY IN HOTEL
TWO MEN BEFORE COURT
A raffle conducted among a group of men in a hotel in order to decide who was to win the weekend beer on the "bob in" principle resulted in the appearance ,in the Magistrate's Court today of Francis Louis Reardon, chemist, and. Graham Stewart Pattern, salesman, who pleaded guilty, before Mr. W. F. Stilwell, S.M., to a charge of establishing a lottery. At 5.30 p.m' last Saturday, said SubInspector G. H. Lambert, a sergeant and constable visited the Princess Hotel in Molesworth Street. There were about 50 persons in the bar, and Reardon was holding in his hands a notebook and pencil, while the other defendant was shaking a bottle-shaped wicker basket containing numbered marbles. The book contained a number, of initials, and written on the top of the page was 40s, 15s, and ss, indicating the value of the prizes given. Inquiries showed that the men had put in a shilling each, and they were in the act of drawing the winners when the police entered. "The winners, I understand, spend their money on beer and take it home! for the weekend. There are no profits for the promoters," said the subinspector.. Mr. R. L. A. Cresswell said that the lottery was being conducted in - the private bar, and not the public bar. "I desire only to emphasise that this was a' private raffle or sweepstake being conducted among a circle of friends/ and there was no profit whatever to the two defendants, unless they were fortunate enough to draw one of the winning prizes," he said. Such a sweepstake, ,said counsel, would have been perfectly legal had it been conducted on a racecourse. "Similar raffles are being run every day throughout New Zealand in clubs, hotels, and shops and other places," said Mr. Cresswell. The Magistrate: You don't expect me to make any admission, do you? (Laughter.) defendants, said counsel, were really lulled into unconsciousness that they were committing an offence. The case was probably just.over the borderline of what the police would take action against.
The Magistrate, who convicted the defendants and fined each £2, said he did not' regard it as a serious matter.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19420327.2.79
Bibliographic details
Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 73, 27 March 1942, Page 6
Word Count
367WEEKEND BEER Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 73, 27 March 1942, Page 6
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