UNLAWFULLY AT RACES

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22242, 30 January 1947, Page 3

UNLAWFULLY AT RACES

VISIT TO TRENTHAM PERSECUTION ALLEGED , p A ) WELLINGTON. Jan. 30. Allegations that he was being persecuted were made by Arthur Thomas Langstone. newspaper agent, when he was spoken to by Detective F. Gordon. Petone, on Trentham racecourse on Anniversary Day. said Detective Gordon in the Petone Magistrate’s Court yesterday when Langstone was charged with being unlawfully on the course, being a person prohibited from attending such racecourse.

•'He said there were murderers, burglars and thieves on the racecourse and why didn't I put them off?” continued Detective Gordon.

“He then said his previous conviction had been a political affair and asked why other bookmakers in Petone had not been prosecuted by me.” Langstone told the court that as a result of his previous conviction he had lost a job with a salary of £6OO. He had since earned an average of £3 10s a week bv working 14 hours a day. He had gone' to Trentham for a bit of relaxation and a picnic and had merely strayed on to the top of the course. “The after-effects of the conviction had nothing to do with the police or Detective Gordon or the court." said the magistrate. Mr. .1. T. Thompson. Langstone was convicted and ordered to pay costs. Took Detective's Bet Francis William Max Just, aged 37. a labourer, who accepted a bet at Trentham on Anniversary Day from a detective on a horse which won, was fined £IOO by Mr. J. H. Thompson, S.M., in the Petone Magistrate’s Court yesterday.