GAMING CHARGES.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVI, Issue 308, 27 November 1936, Page 2

GAMING CHARGES.

FINES TOTAL £340. Per Press Association. AUCKLAND, Nov. 20. A further episode arising out of the recent simultaneous raid by twenty detectives on eleven Chinese gaming houses in the city was the appearance in the Police Court to-day of twelve Chinese, charged with using their premises as common gaming houses. One Chinese and one European were charged with assisting and one Chinese and three Europeans wero charged with being found on the premises. Twenty Europeans were dealt with last week for a similar offence. To-day fines ranging from £1 to £IOO were imposed, making a total of £340. One case is still being defended. Detective-Sergeant Meiklejohn said that of the twenty men found on the premises nineteen were on sustenance. When the banks were being drawn there were large numbers of unemployed awaiting the results. Betting shops opened on to the streets. Mr Wyvern Wilson, S.M., said gaming houses were a serious menace to the community, and the fact that they were patronised almost wholly by men on sustenance made the evil all the greater, for men in strained circumstances were lured to part with their small pittances. In one case, where a Chinese stated that he received one penny commission on each ticket sold, the Magistrate asked the police if they knew who paid this money. Mr Meiklejohn: I’ve tried to find out who is behind ft, but when one inquires one is told “the boss; he gone China,” or “the boss; he gone Sydney There seem to be more financial men behind the business than those who appear in Court.