GAMING HOUSE IN CITY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21110, 18 February 1932, Page 10

GAMING HOUSE IN CITY.

MIDDAY RAID BY POLICE.

EUROPEANS PLAY PAK-A-POO. FINES -IMPOSED ON 37 MEN. DARING ESCAPE OUT OF WINDOW Fines totalling £145 were imposed on 37 of 40 men who appeared before Mr. F. K. Hunt, S.M., in the Police Court yesterday on gaming charges brought as the result of a raid by detectives on premises in Queen Street shortly after noon. Raymond Lewis, said by ChiefDetective Hammond to have been the operator of pak-a-poo banks, was fined £SO. Detective-Sergeant Doyle was in charge of the raiding party, the other members being Detectives McWhirter and Packman and Acting-Detectives Brady, Hamilton and Slater. The premises visited were on the first floor of 328, Queen Street, just below Wakefield Street, and the raid caused great excitement among the large lunch-hour crowd in the city. Three detectives entered by the front door and the other three remained at the back entrance, which had access to Lome Street. No insistence was encountered from the 40 men arrested, but another man on the premises escaped by jumping through an open window and leaping from a rooftop into a yard. He made his way into Lome Street. The police van had to make three journeys to take the men to the police station. There was not sufficient room in the cells for the men, who were accommodated in the police gymnasium. • Played Extensively in Auckland. " This is the first time in my experience that a European has been charged with operating a pak-a-poo bank," Mr. Hammond stated when the men were charged two hours later in the Police Court. " The game is being conducted on a very large scale in Auckland and has caught on with a certain type."

/Lewis and a Chinese, Charlie Lee, were each charged with keeping premises at 328 Queen Street as a common gaming house, and Harold Joseph Lipscombe appeared on a count of assisting in the management. Pleas of guilty were entered. A great amount of material, including "books" of pak-a-poo tickets, placards announcing the sums to be won, and £4 in money, was exhibited in Court.

Counsel for Lewis stated that his client frankly admitted the offence and said Lee and Lipscombe were his assistants.

Mr. Hammond said the raid had been . made on warrant. The premises were . fitted up as a gaming house, there being tables bearing pak-a-poo material and forms arranged around the room. At the time of the visit by the detectives the men were awaiting the result of the 12.30 p.m. bank. An unusual thing was that the pak-a-poo tickets confiscated were not those ordinarily used by Chinese, and Mr. Hammond believed that they had been printed in New Zealand. iour banks were held a day, but there were five banks on some days. Profit of £Bl in One Bank. «' We obtained a slight record of the winnings," Mr. Hammond continued, " The A bank recently showed a profit of £Bl 2s. The players actually do not have a fair chance. They do not understand the Chinese marking s> and it is in the hands of those conducting a bank whether they receive a proper deal." Mr. Hammond added that Lewis had been in Court previously for bookmaking and he asked the magistrate to impose a heavy penalty as a deterrent to men of the type of the accused. The game undoubtedly had a considerable following and there had been more than 100 plavers in one bank on Saturday. " Lewis was engaged in legitimate ■work until recently," counsel stated. "It is only a week since the premises were taken for the purpose of gaming. Lewis has had illness in his family. He is married and has three children. The whole thing has been nipped in the bud, and I would ask that his previous convictions should not be considered in fixing the penalty. It is the first time pak-a-poo has been operated by a European in New Zealand, and I would suggest that the penalty should be as a warning to others and not large." Addressing the magistrate, Lipscombe stated that his services on the premises had been voluntary. He had been out of work. " Lipscombe has not previously been in trouble," Mr. Hammond pointed out. " Lewis' case is different. It is a most audacious thing for a European to open a -pak-a-poo game in the middle of the city. The Chinese have not been having anything to do with Lewis' game." . " Not Profitable lor Europeans." Counsel remarked that Lewis had lost £22 in nine days and it was evident that pak-a-poo. was not profitable for a European tn operate. The magistrate fined Lewis £SO, in default three months' imprisonment, Lee £25, in default two months, and Lipscombe £2 or 14 days. 'Jiinc was allowed in which to find payment. , Charges of being found on the premises without lawful excuse were brought against the following men:—llarry James Abraham, George Howe Nation, William J. W. Pascoe, Noel Charles Dee, Francis Cnrron, Walter Chaplin Beswick, John Dawson, Herbert John Donclan, Lewis Gick, Matthew Anderson, Randolph Richard Tattersal, William Boycc, William Cecil Llovd, Alex Gunn, Andrew /Gordon Gibson, Ebenezer Gladstone Robb, John Reid, John Worth Woolley, Percy William Roberts, Frank Patrick Hogan, Arthur Manscll, George Harrison McComish, Frederick Tscc, George Roach Bartlett, Peter Matcroa, James McCafferty McCreadie, Henry W. J. Smith, George Robert Mcßae, James Alexander Matheson, Leonard Charles Hilsbron, John Eraser,- Raymond Arthur Parker, .Walter George Pearce, William Orrell, Alfred Arthur Erickscn, Joseph Troncho and William Lewis. Doors Not Locked. Pleas of not guilty were entered by Nation, Pascoe and Matheson, the other j34 men admitting the offence. Detective-Sergeant Doyle stated in evidence that the premises were open and 110 doors were locked. The police knew the identity of the man who escaped. Nation and Pascoe stated that they had an appointment to meet in a billiards saloon in the vicinity and entered the gaming premises by mistake. "It is etrange that you both made the same mistake," commented Mr. Hammond, but 1 the magistrate said he was prepared to give the accused the benefit of the doubt ' and dismissed the charges. Matheson said he had gone into the premises to post - bills and had taken no part in the game. The count against him also was dismissed. Fines of £2 each, in default seven I days' imprisonment, were imposed on the teen who pleaded guilty to the offence.