Commissioner Urges Wider Powers For Police

Northern Advocate, 13 June 1947, Page 5

Commissioner Urges Wider Powers For Pol ice

GAMING INQUIRY

(P.A.) WELLINGTON, This Day. REFERENCE to those provisions ol‘ the Garni nr; Act, 1908, which in his opinion required amendment, and some observations on the administration of the gaming laws were made by the Commissioner of Police (Mr J. Cummings) when the Gaming Commission sat in Wellington yesterday afternoon.

“I am of opinion,” said Mr Cummings in the course of his evidence, “that the definition of ‘public place’ in section 2 of the Gaming Act is not quite wide enough, in that it does not cover places where large numbers of men are employed.

‘‘The police receive numerous complaints abcut the playing of hazards, two-up, crown and anchor and other unlawful games at these places. "The definition should include any building or place where there are reasonable grounds for the belief that unlawful games are being played.” With reference to places suspected of being common gaming houses, Mr Cummings suggested that powers should be given to make a search without warrant.

It frequently happened that police on night duty had sufficient reason for suspecting that certain premises were being used as gambling dens and frequented by undesirables, but because of the difficulty of obtaining a search warrant within a reasonable time they were unable to take action. “SPORTS GROUND” Mr Cummings submitted that the section of the act which excluded chartered clubs from the application of the section dealing with common gaming houses should be amended to include them. “In addition, power should be given to arrest an offender found betting on a sports ground,” continued the commissioner. ’ The section of the act at present provided for the removal only of a person offending in this way. The definition of "sports ground” should include wrestling contests and dog races. “The police have no objection to the publication of dividends,” stated the commissioner. The section of the act regulating admission to racecourses' had been helpful to the police in keeping courses free from undesirable types. He submitted that undischarged bankrupts should be added to the list of prohibited persons. He also suggested that the maximum penalty for breach of the regulations should be increased. There should be provision for imprisonment, more particularly for the purpose of dealing with pick-pockets and undesirables who visited the country from overseas. PRINTERS AND “TOTE" TICKETS On the question of lotteries, Mr Cummings stated that the section of the act relating to these should be amended to enable action to be taken against printers of tickets for the lotteries known as “tote tickets.” “This form of gaming has become a racket in New Zealand and many

individuals make it a full-time occupation,” he said"lf legislation • were passed that would enable the police to deal with printers of these tickets, I feel it would go a long way to suppressing this racket.” The commissioner said the operation of totalisators had been quite satisfactory. He doubted, however, whether the use of the three totalisators now permitted to a club at one time would be sufficient in future, if and when a double totalisator was installed and a separate five-shilling totalisator was instituted. If the public had not sufficient betting facilities, overcrowding around the totalisator was helpful to pickpockets.

, NO TOTALISATOR OFF COURSE It was considered no totalisator should be operated outside the racecourse. It was essential to retain the section of the act relating to the employment of a person as an agent or a person acting as an agent, in order to prevent bookmakers using agents on the course to make large investments, as had been established in prosecutions. The time had arrived when the penalty fixed for section 72 of the act (cases not specially provided for) could be increased to a fine of £IOO or three, months’ imprisonment. There should be no minimum penalty. The present penalty is a fine not exceeding £2O. On the question of street betting, Mr Cummings said it was suggested that the penalty for this offence should be increased to £SOO, that there should be no minimum penalty and that an offender might on conviction be sentenced to a term of imprisonment not exceeding three months. BOOKMAKING PENALTIES “No evidence has been produced to satisfy me that the licensing of bookmakers would be beneficial to racing,” commented Mr Cummings. Bookmakers gave the police a good deal of work. It was considered that if the maximum penalty for operation were increased from £50(1 to £IOOO, with no minimum penalty, and if imprisonment were for a term of not more than three months, it would be more helpful in the administration of the act.

The penalty of £IOO for making bets with a bookmaker was considered satisfactory, but the term of imprisonment for the offence should be reduced from six to three months. “Section 2 of the act of 1910, in which it was made an offence for a bookmaker to bet On licensed premises, was repealed by section 7 of the Gaming Amendment Act, 1020, and we ask,” said the commissioner, “that this section be reinstated, as a good deal of betting takes place on licensed premises and in chartered clubs.”