BETTING WITH CHILD

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20143, 12 January 1940, Page 10

BETTING WITH CHILD

A GAME OF CHANCE PROMOTER FINED £2 Three boys aged nine, 11 and 14 gave evidence before Mr. J. Morling, S.M., in the Auckland Police Court in support of charges of playing a game of chance in a public place and of making a bet with an infant nine years of age against William Harvey, aged 40, carpenter. The evidence showed that Harvey had his table, covered with a cloth marked with squares, set out at Brown's Bay on New Year's Day. From behind a rope surrounding it children ancl adults were invited to throw pennies on the cloth, and if the penny landed wholly inside a square they received threepence. Otherwise they lost the penny. All the boys who gave evidence said that they had lost their pennies, and that there were many children about. The accused was calling out: “Come here with pennies and go away with pounds.” The accused said he had played the game before at Ohope Beach and thought it was a game of skill and legal. It had been allowed at the Dunedin Exhibition. In the two hours and 40 minutes before he was stopped by a constable at Brown’s Bay he had made 7s (3d. Sub-Inspector Pender: Do you think it is a fair thing to take the pennies of small children who come along? Accused: Oh, yes. The magistrate said that the worst feature was that it was encouraging these young children to gamble. The accused did not seem to realise that this was a serious offence against the law. On the charge of betting with a child he would be fined £2, and on the other charge he would be convicted and discharged. He was also ordered to pay witnesses’ expenses.