THE LAW BROKEN.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 24 March 1928, Page 5

THE LAW BROKEN.

A EUCHRE TOURNEY

THE CHRISTCHURCH CASE

j •;* TKLEI.IIAPU PUKSS ASSOCIATION. J n eLuiNGTMN, March 24. In view of the public interest which has been aroused by the recent Supreme Court decision in Christchurc-ii regarding a euenre tourney, the following statement is made by the .Attorney General and Minister of Justice, the Hon. F. J. Rolleston: — The facts of which the recent decision was based were that the party prosecuted had invited the public by advertisements to attend at certain premises known as the Sydneham Football Hall for the purpose of playing progressive euchre. The charge of 2s 6d was made for admission and cash prizes up to £lO were offered to winners of the tournament. Tlie tour nament was run purely for the purpose of private gain. On these facts the Court, following decisions on exactly the same law which is in force in England, held that the premises were what..is called in law common gaming house in breach of the provision of the Gaming Act.

Essential points in this case were that- an admission fee was charged for entries in the euchre tournament for the purpose of winning the prize and that prizes of value, that is, money, were offered to winners of the tournament.

“I have l-eceived many letters on this subject from different parts of the country, some, of them- evidently written on the assumption that the game of euchre, has been declared: an unlawful game,” states Air. Rqlleston. “This is not so. A game l>e■omes unlawful only if played in such circumstances as to constitute the premises where is played a common gaming house. In the prosecutions which have, recently come before the Courts five out of six were cases in which the tournaments were being conducted as a matter of business by private individuals purelv for the purpose of private gain and these differed in no way from those of the ‘roll down’ or other prosecutions.”