CELESTIAL GAMBLERS.

NZ Truth, Issue 95, 13 April 1907, Page 5

CELESTIAL GAMBLERS.

THE INTERPRETER THREATENED.

Is Pak-a-pu a Game of Chance?

Dr. McArthur t« Decide Next Monday.

The apparently " indeterminahle de- ' lay of proceeding with the prosecution of a number of Chinese gamblers ended last Monday morning, "When one of the alleged gamblers named Joe G-ee answered, at the S.M. Court, tb a. charge of having sold a pack-ah-pu lottery ticket on •January 30 last. These prosecutions have been pending for some months past, and innumerable difficultiies have been met with m securing the services of an interpreter. On Monday last one Dong Hang was pressed into service. Dong, is a Newtown Sruiterer, and has acted as interpreter m several cases before to-day. Evidently this Mongol had. been threatened both by. Chinese and Europeans, and when about to be sworn . m lie hesitated at taking* the Bible, and m a loud voice, speaking excellent English, he told the Magistrate that on the eveniag of March 84 last he had been molested and .threatened, and ,was consequently frightened.. Dong Hong at once was overwhelmed by| Chief Detective McGrath.t with offers of police protection.' 'when, Mr. Wilford, who appeared for the accused,, intimated tJiat his clients protested against Done; Hong being accepted as'interpreter, as 'there were, three previous convictions, against him, and therefore he could not be ;regarded as a fit and desirable person to -assist the Court. This assertion was met by the. Chief Detective's contention that tftere was no proper way- to prove the convictions, if any, and theMa-g---istrate chipped m wfth tjie remark <|jhat he would not take aaiy , ex parte statement of Dong's good or fcad character. ; , • The offences, Mr. Wilford. next m.- . timated, were obscenity, and' offences , : IN REGARD ttf PROSTITUTION at Invercargill. . His names were Younfi Kit and Jehn Bright. As j the Magistrate declined to ask Dong HjOng to either, admit or deny ; the convictions (though the Cihow him--self became;' very i. voluble, and talked loudly, about hajviiyg. a .testimon- ; ial of his good character from, Mr. J ■■.-■ Pointon, ex-S.M. and Public, : Trustee) the maligned Celestial was ac- .'■ cordin'gjy sworn m, >and received more offers of protection both from '■• the Court, and from the police. Dong was very, profuse m his thanks, : and asserted that all he had to do. •■■ was to say the truth, and if, he .did i not tell the truth he would say. a ■'-•lie, which isn't bad >.logiofor a ' Chinaman. There was only, two witness : for ; the prosecution! Detectives Kemp arid ■-"• Williamfe. Their evidence was to the -effect that ' on the evening of January 3Q last, fjheyrteaoh marked -tickets 'at a shop, 59, Taranaki Strefet 1 . --The accused was behind the.- counter. They each \ marked on two, tickets '•'■"-■ twenty marks, on Chinese chaHa'a--'-■■ters. These marks were duplicated :j: ~ m a bookf kept .by Joe Gee, to .'''whom they ; each gave a shilling.' -rThey returned at eight o'clock the -• earne mght. Williams was lucky, he. i> caught five marks, and got a bob ; Kemp's luck was dead out ; he got-, nothing— but a case. Kemp at great length explained how pak-ah-pu -; was played. It subsequently tranas pired m cross-examination that ihis knowledge of how it was conducted was gleaned from '.'.'. , GOOD OLD "INFORMATION RE- ; CEIVED." . ■ . •;. I It looked an easy thing, as -■■■ the corresponding characters to > • tue eipjb.'ty on the ticket were plac-j ed m four basins, and through a slide m a wall the hand of an ag-> tnt, who did not know what he. grabbed, got one of these basins j and the twenty characters m the s . basin represented the winning twenty marks. The bam!% supplied the var-, ious agents with result slips, and the numbers and prizes were five marks ft shilling, six, eight and sixpence ; seven, £3 10s 6d< eisit £19 2s ed ; nine, £35 r ten, £70. The afi- • ents received 8s 6d commisision for every hundred tickets sold, aad the seller of a wittwiang ticket got ten per cent of the amount w*>n. v ■■ Kemp's knowledge seemed to stir-, prise Mr. Wilford, who said he had, • himself been at the drawing of a lottery, and had marked a key tick- •■. et, and had won thirty-nine bob. It s/as evidently a different kind to •the game Kemp knew, as that 'Tec was forced to admit that he knew ■no thing about most of the thingsMr. Wilford spoke oif, and Chief 'Tec-' MeG-rath chin-wag^eii that they must ; have put on a special kind of fiame--for Mr. Wilford's behoof the night,; ;he went to the den. It came out >; that there was such a think as ■ . bursting the irank. There might be, according to Kemp, still on information received, £200 or £300 capital . m the bank. If anyone should be fortunate enough, and it was a million to one against him. doing it 1 , to break the bank, he got all there was of the capital, and received so " ' much, m the pound above it, M he r - tad more to draw. Tlie defence raised by Mr. .Wilford was a * legal pne, inasmuch as it ~: concerned the construction of the . Gaming and , Lotteries Act of 1881. He took objections wholesale, quoted authorities galore, and the Magistrate at the conclusion decided to reserve judgment till next Monday. The first point was that there was Ho offence disclosed m the information, inasmuch as there was no mention of the name of the party to -whom the ticket was sold. Another objection was that the information was laid under Section 18 of the Gaming and Lotteries Act of 3881, and the offence alleged against fbhe defendants was of selling a ticket m a lottery or scheme. Section 9 of the Act Said that PAK-AH-PU WAS A GAME OF CHANCE, and the Chief Justice m descrSbing the case of Joe Quick v. Detective Cox, which was a case m appeal, eaid that the said had declared |>ak-ah-pu not to be a lottery, but a game of chance, and by that definition the Courfc was, bound to deeictei Subsequent to this decision,

Mr. Justice Williams, m the judgment of the case Lee Son v. Detective Connolly, another appeal case at Dunedin, had saad that Section 9 enacted that pak-ah-pu was not a game of chance, but that tkat declaration did not prevent "the game being a lottery as well. Dr. McArthur : It looks to me to be a gajne of chance between one Supreme Court judge and another, and therefore there will have, to be an appeal to the Magistrate's Court. Mr. Wilford: A court case is very often a game of chance. Mr. Willord; f,urtfaiejr cottteinded that. there was no proof that any lottery took place. That there was: no proof that any bank was drawn m connection with the ticket purchased, and no evidence had been given except by heresay as to bow a hank was drawn. There was n© evidence that the sale of the tickets produced m the case entitled the iip ai*y fixed sum, maximum or minimum, if a bank we're, drawn. That there was ho evidence that the game ol pak-ah-pu, which was defined m Section 9 as a game of chancy was being played on Jan. 30. "Finally,'* said Mr. Wilford. Dlr. McArtfauir : "Fdina'liy." You're like a Presbyterian with your finally ! Mr. Wiiford : I hope Your Worship is not tired of my objections. Dr. McArthur: Oh dear no, it is interesting and it is a serious matter. • ' The final objection was that the information must be dealt with under Section 18 as a lottery, and, not under Section 9, which defined it, as a game of chance. ■ It was Arranged that pending the decision on • tJie oihgections , raised that the other oases pending should stand over till next Monday. Don;; Hong, the interpreter, with' whose interpretation no fault h^d been found, was further assured of the protection of the Court and the police if he was molested m Tany ,way, and he left ' the Court with a breezy good-bye, and promised to, turn up next Monday, all beiag well.