“MENACE TO THE COMMUNITY”

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXX, 26 November 1936, Page 7

“MENACE TO THE COMMUNITY”

GAMING HOUSES IN AUCKLAND PATRONISED BY SUSTENANCE ►MEN MEN BEFORE THE COURT (By Telegraph—Press Association) AUCKLAND, This Day. 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 of the Chinese and one European were charged with assisting, and one Chinese and three Europeans were charged with being found on the premises. Twenty Europeans were dealt with last week for a similar offence. Today, fines ranging from. £1 to £IOO were imposed, making the total £340. One case is still being defended. Detective-Sergeant Meiklejohn said that of twenty men found on the premises, nineteen were on sustenance. When the banks were being drawn, large numbers of unemployed were seen awaiting the results, and betting shops were opened on the streets. Mr Wyvern Wilson, S.M., said that 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 small pittances. In one case, where a Chinese stated he received one penny commission on each ticket sold, the Magistrate asked the police if they knew who paid this money. Detective-Sergeant Meiklejohn: “I’ve tried to find out who is behind it, but when one inquires, one is told ‘the boss, he gone Chinah’ or, ‘the boss he gone Sydney.’ There seem to be more financial men behind the business than those v/ho appear in court.”