UNDESIRABLE SIDESHOWS

Greymouth Evening Star, 12 May 1934, Page 5

UNDESIRABLE SIDESHOWS

MOVE BY A. AND P. SOCIETIES. That table games and darts be excluded from the sideshows at all A. and P. Shows was the recommendation made at the annual conference of the South Auckland group of A. and P. Associations, which met at Morrinsvillo recently. A remit to this effect will go forward to the Auckland provincial conference of show associations.

In the course of much outspoken comment the delegates said that merry-go-rounds and big sideshows where the public saw something for their money were all right, but [strong objection was taken to certain games of chance played at small tables. Instances were quoted of patrons of the /X. and P. shows who had been “taken down” for considerable sums bj f clever showmen who told plausible tales. One show secretary said he had refused to cash a cheque,’ for £l5 brought to him by one of those, showmen who had got it from a patron of the show. The chairman, Mr XV. J. Aitken, of Morrinsville, remarked that the police had a thankless job, as the sideshow-people who engaged in shavj) ]>r:’.ciices seemed to know a lot übcat the law and gave the police little opportunity to intervene. They obviously had scouts and touts who secured the confidence of show patrons and kept a watch out for the police. Approval was expressed of the recent legislation giving A. and P. associations power to remove undesirable sideshowmen from showgrounds.