BETTING TELEGRAMS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20987, 25 September 1931, Page 12

BETTING TELEGRAMS.

it: MANIPULATION ALLEGED. CHARGE ; 0F CONSPIRACY. EVIDENCE /OF DETECTIVE. FOUR' MEN SENT FOR TRIAL. [r.V TELEGRAPH.- —OWN COP> RESPONDENT.] WELLINGTON. Timrsday. Evidence relating to interviews with three of the accused was given by Detective Jarrold in the Magistrate's Court todav when the'ease was continued against /Charles Thomas Tassell and Wilfred ' Henry Gladstone Brown, ex-employees of the Post and Telegraph Department, John Ryan, labourer, and Ralph Antonovitch for alleged conspiracy to defraud bookmakers by a//system of betting bv telegraph. The Crown alleged manipulation of betting telegrams. Detective Jarrold said that in consequence of <y complaint made to him by the Post and Telegraph Department in regard to telegrams sent to Charles Joseph Williams and Peter Healy on Juno 6 he interviewed Brown at the detective office /find told him lie suspected that Smith (Antonovitch) had something to do with tho telegrams. Witness also told Brown that he had been seen speaking to Smith at the Panama Street entrance to the post office. Accused said he knew Smith, but he had not spoken to him at the j Panama Street entrance to the post office | on June 6. Brown admitted having spoken to messenger Twort, but said he did not ask him where ho had come from. Ilis object in speaking to the messenger was to get a pie brought to him. Knowledge of Telegrams Denied. In a statement made lo him, continued the Brown said he had been on duty in ahe operating room from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. on June 6. At about 12.15 p.m. he was informed that a lady was waiting to see him. He obtained permission and went out to see her. Ho denied having spoken tc Smith (Antonovitch) on that day and said that if anyone said he had seen him speaking to him near the Panama Street entrance he would be telling a deliberate lie. He denied that he knew anything about the two telegrams in question and said that he did not wish to disclose the name of the lady he had seen as he did not want her to be interviewed by detectives. Detective Jarrold said that when he ' arrested Brown on the present charge Brown said it was ridiculous. He supposed witness had to get somebody and he had got him. Interview With Tassell. The detective stated that he interviewed the accused Tassell on June 8 and told him ho had. seen the messenger Twort who said that when he came down to the operating room shortly after 1 p.m. on June 6 Tassell told him that a Te Aro telegram 110 was missing and had asked him to turn/out his bag. Accused denied j having asked the boy to turn out the | bag. Accused made a statement in which j he said that from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. on j June 6 he was engaged on the telegraph checking table. Accused iu his statement said that Twort had delivered telegrams to him at 1.13 p.m. and he had checked them < and had handed a receipt to Twort then and not on any subsequent occasion. He then placed Ahe telegrams on the outwa jj Is tray. As far as he was concerned tne delay had occurred after he had placed the telegram in the distributing tray. The . detective, continuing, said that niter further interviews, he told accused he was of qpiniqn that ho was either mixed up with the conspiracy or he was shielding someone. Accused agreed that under tb« circumstances witness was justified in making tho suggestion, but he was not concerned with the conspiracy and •was not shielding anyone. The detective said he showed Tassell a telegram with the words, "Ferris, phone 1526, Blenheim, April, knoll mere." Accused said the number of words had been altered and knoll Jnero had been written differently. Tassell could not explain a delay, from 1.40 to 2.16, of the telegram on May 14. Two Other Statements. Detective Jarrold said that , Inspector Ogilvie had two statements from Tassell. The first referred to the telegram handed in on May 14, and the second statement related to Ahe procedure when the telegram of June 6 was found to be delayed. Cross-examined by Mr. W. P. Rollings, who appeared for Brown, Detective Jarrold said he had found the lady referred to in Brown's statement. He had also n:ade inquiries about Brown sending boys out to get pies, and had found that a boy from C'Ourtenay Place had brought them to him on two occasions. Hugh Miller, assistant senior supervisor, gave evidence of the discovery of a delayed telegram on June 6. When witness questioned Tassell he did not say that the telegram had already been referred to him by Homer arid Berry (two other postal officers). When Tassell heard of the delay it was his duty to report the matter to witness. Witness examined all the Te Aro work that afternoon and found that a. telegram to Wanganui had been similarly delayed. Submission by Counsel. Mr. W. E.' Leicester, for Tassell, said that in view of Tassell's long and previously unblemished record with the department, the Court could assume that be had acted innocently. The magistrate, Mr. R I'age, said that on Tassell's own.written admission he was physically a party to the manipulation of the telegram in the sense that he allowed a fellow officer access to the telegram. He had done thp same tiling on two other occasions. On Tassell's own admission there was evidence against hirn of ,a f-erions crime under the Post and Telegraph Act, and it was the magistrate's .duty to send him forward for trial. Mr. Rollings .said the evidence against Brown was negligible. Tassell's statement to the police was inadmissible <is evidence against Brown. The magistrate agreed that the statement was /inadmissible, but said theie seemed to be a prima facie case to send Brown for trial. The four accused pleaded not guilty and were committed to the Supreme Court le" trial.