"ROBBING THE PUBLIC"

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19490, 20 November 1926, Page 17

"ROBBING THE PUBLIC"

illegal game at show. FATHER AND SON CONVICTED. FINES OF TWENTY-FIVE POUNDS. proper game, and it is nothing more or loss than robbing the public," said Mr. F. K. Hunt, S.M., in the Police Court yesterday, in imposing fines of *£2s upon Thomas Albert Durrau and his son Thomas Francis Durran (Mr. Sullivan), for conducting at the Royal Show a game of chance known as Peg La. " The public has no chance whatever," the magistrate added. " One of these men is a criminal and had no right to be there at all, yet this is the sort of man who says he is running a fair game." Chief-Detective Cumnnngs said he saw the two accused conducting the game in the Show Grounds oti Wednesday. As far »s he knew there were no fixed rules, which could be stipulated by jinyone running the game. Play took place on a table over 6ft. long, covered with green baize. About sft. away was a stand ■where the thrower took up his position. On the table were 18 pegs, which had been carefully measured and found to be 1 10-16 in. in diameter at the widest part. The ring which the player threw was 1 11-16 in. in diameter. The Magistrate: So you have 116 th of gin inch to come and go on! Mr. Cummings said the prizes ranged from 2s to 10s in accordance with the distance from the thrower of the pegs ringed. All the pegs were on a decided angle away from the thrower, so that it was a physical impossibility to ring them. In addition, the pegs would become loose in the table, which made it more difficult to put the ring on them. , " A Good Paying Game." Mr. Cummings said he watched the game for 20 minutes, and out of 30 or 40 people who played not one put a ring over a peg. Ho spoke to the elder accused and told him it was a game of chance. Accused said it was a game of skill, so he was invited tc give a demonstration, but declined. r i?ho younger accused said the game had been played all over New Zealand, and refused to stop. He said the game was a good paying one and produced a roll of notes, saying he would fight the police. Detective-Sergeant O'Brien said he watched visitors to the show playing the game for about 15 minutes, and no one was successful in ringing a peg. All the pegs were leaning away from the player and it would be physically impossible to ring any of them. The Magistrate: You would have to have superhuman skill and the ring would have to be thrown like a boomerang to come back on top of the peg. Senior-Detective Hammond said he •watched money being taken from boys and girls as well as adults at defendants' stall. Not one secured s prize. At this stage Mr. Sullivan asked that a demonstration should be given before the magistrate, but after a table had been prepared in a separate room, the elder accused refused to allow the rings to be thrown. " I appreciate and thank you for your courtesy," said counsel when the magistrate had resumed his seat on the Bench. < "I am sorry I have a client who will not accept my advice." He added that defendants were now intent on securing the evidence of a constable at New Plymouth, who was able to play the game ' skilfully. The Magistrate: I will assume it. is a : game of skill, but there are nine or ten witnesses who tell me it is not. Confiscation of Material. Evidence was given by three other detectives and two constables, who stated ! they watched the game being played for varying intervals, without any players ringing pegs. j Counsel said he had attended the Court 1 to defend a charge of conducting a game ' of skill, but there were now allegations of fraud. He asked for an opportunity ' to communicate with persons who had 1 actually won money at Peg La. ) After the luncheon adjournment Mr. ' Sullivan said he could not secure his witnesses, and desired further time. ,The Court would be bound to convict both men in the face of such overwhelming police evidence. Mr. Cummings said the application for ( an adjournment was unreasonable. There •was no evidence that the game played at the show was different from that played in other parts. Accused had been given opportunities to demonstrate whether it was a game of skill, but had . refused. 1 "In my opinion the whole thing proves t itself," said Mr. Hunt. " There are a I large number of pegs rounded at the c top and it has been proved incontestably , that they were at an angle. The chief detective, who probably knows every e game brought into the Dominion, has not v seen it before, and he says it is practically impossible to ring these pegs in n the shape they are. The game is clearly "f : improper, even assuming that one or two t,; people were successful in ringing a peg. f, Each accused will be fined £25 and I ti will make an order under the Act that v all material shall lie confiscated." a Mr. Cummings said accused had wil- a fully misled their counsel durine the case. The younger one had been convicted of vagrancy, false pretences and unlawful conversion of a motor-car.