SECRET COCKFIGHTS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVIII, Issue 177, 27 June 1938, Page 9

SECRET COCKFIGHTS.

IMPOSITION OF FINES. LONDON, June 14. Cockfighting matches, which were watched by 50 people in a lonely part of Westmorland, were described in Court at Hackthorpe, near Penrith. Fines ranging from £4O to £lO were imposed on 17 men. The total was £350. The prosecutor said the cockpit was 20 feet in diameter. Spurs said to be similar to those fitted to the birds were exhibited. Each-spur was sharper than a needle, and was about one aind threequarter inches long. Mr A. S. G. Mardon, an official investigator on behalf of Our Dumb Friends’ League, was the chief witness. He chose to write down his address rather than give it in open Court. “I have received threats,” he said.

Later, in an interview, Air Mardon said he had felt anxious recently about his wife’s safety. “I have a police watch on my home,” he said. “I have discovered that many British people ,in high positions go to the Continent for this sport. It is well known. I have ,a long list of names in my possession; In the last few weeks I and my witness have taken our lives in our hands.’ Mr Mardon went under an assumed name whi’e making inquiries into these secret cockfights.