AN ATTEMPT TO BET.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19717, 17 August 1927, Page 14

AN ATTEMPT TO BET.

TELEGRAM TO BOOKMAKER. UNUSUAL DEFENCE FAILS. PENALTY OF £3O IMPOSED. [BY TELEGRAPH. OWN CORRESPONDENT.) CHRISTCHURCH. Tuesday. When charged in the Supreme Court today with having, in Christchurch, on March 10, made a bet with Alfred Vivian Whitta, a bookmaker, William Kitson (Mr. Thomas) pleaded not guilty. Mr. Donnelly, Crown prosecutor, said that when Whitta's premises were raided a telegram from Kitson was found among the correspondence. It was from Wellington, and a'sked for a "double" on Mandane and Licinius. To the police Kitson admitted the offence, and said that he had been betting with Whitta for some time. He said that if charged he would plead guilty, but later he decided to plead not guilty. The question was not whether Kitson h'ad betted previously with Whitta, said Mr. Donnelly, but whether he made the particular bet alleged in the indictment. If the jury was satisfied that ho made that bet, or attempted to, it should convict him.

Detective-Sergeant Young said that when he raided Whitta's premises in Christchurch ho • found a telegram: " Albert Christchurch Roy Mandane Licinius Wellington." "Roy" was the code word for £5. In pencil across the telegram there had. been written, "200 to 2 all available." It meant that Kitson asked for £5 worth of a "double," and that he got £2 worth.

Mr. Thomas said that Kitson did attempt to bet with Whitta. Counsel asked whether Whitta was a bookmaker at the time the bet was offered. The Crown had not proved that Whitta was a bookmaker on March 10, when the bet was made. On March 31 Whitta was convicted of having carried on the business of a bookmaker on March 16 and was fined £4OO. He had been convicted five or seven years ago of being a bookmaker, but March 16 was not March 10.

Kitson was not charged with having been a bookmaker, continued counsel, which was different from betting with a bookmaker. The Crown had "left a gap big enough to drive a coach and four through." His Honor, summing up, said that Whitta had been convicted previously of carrying on the business of a bookmaker. It did not amount to very much, except that it gave a starting point. Kitson had said: "1 know Whitta has been carrying on the business of a bookmaker in Christchurch for some years." The case was a matter for the exercise of the jury's common sense.

The jury retired at noon and returned at 2.20 p.m with a verdict of guilty of attempting to bet with a bookmaker. Kitson was fined £3O, in default six weeks' imprisonment.