BREAKING THE BANK.

NZ Truth, Issue 309, 27 May 1911, Page 4

BREAKING THE BANK.

HAINING-STREET HAPPENING.

The Caucasian Not Played Out.

What the Chinftie's Discovered.

Bret Harte alleged that "for ways that are dark, and for tricks that are vain, the heathen Chinee is peculiar." Bret, mi n his day, was a versatile journalist and poet, and pinned his faith to the Chows he had met m the days of Roaring Camp and roaring times generally. If the American poet had lived m Wellington and knew his Hainingstreet, he would have come to the conclusion that the talk of Chow cunning was all moonshine and that up against the European, the simple Cantonese

WAS A MUG. Haining-street, Wellington, isn't as well-known as it ought to be, though occasional romances float through the S.M.s Court, and it has sobered or, rather, steadied up, sin^e tho day that Lionel Terry selected an ancient Chink to point the tale of "a Yellow Peril," and since Peter Griffiths found a mysterious watery grave. Haining-street once was a liverly. lawless old place, but the towering Tory-street police station, and an equally towering sergeant m charge, and other edifices like Paddy Doyle and Ted McKelvie have done much to over-awe the simple inhabitants of that lowly quarter. True, m Wellington we haven't anything approaching the "Chinatown" of a 'Frisco, or the Chow slums of a Sydney, but Haining-street is all sufficient for our requirements. What it might develop into were it not for the strict supervision maintained by that muscular hunk of humanity — Sergeant Rutledge — and the men under his sway at Mount Cook, it is not difficult to imagine. The Chinaman, when he is known, is only a simple creature, fond of a gamble, but always the mug of the spielerlike European. Whenever Rutledge honors Haining-street with a visit, the slant-eyed Celestial views him with concern and approaches him with reverence. Once or twice .h? Chow — the opium smoker and the gambler, the fan-tan and pak-a-pu expert — has matched his wits with the sergeant, and the result is told m the records of the S.M.s Court. Every time the law has moved,

CHINA HAS AWAKENED m the court to the tune of anything up to £100. The opium-smoker has tried to out- wit Rutledge, but that stalwart guardian of the peace has proved one too many, and the Chow recognises that it is useless to resist once the law has a lash.

Let Rutledge roam down Hainingstreet, and there is a clicking of door-locks. These times, however, Rutledge and his boy's were not ready to strike. When he is ready, the clicking of doors doesn't save John Chinaman. Experiences, too. have proved that when the opiumsmoker is going off to Elysian •l'dds he has not taken sufficient precautions t 0 defer a visit from the police.

These little anecdotes are, however, by the way. Those whom the Chows fear they rjespect, but notwithstandr ing the fear and the respect, Jorn Chinaman will gamble, and the possibility is that John Chinaman's little pak-a-pu joint would seldom be disturbed were not that mean whites "rush m wnere angels fear to spread," and mark tickets, play fantan, etc., etc., and the degrading moral spectacle of Europeans openly fraternising with these awful Asiatic aliens is sufficient excuse for the periodical police raids. Though it is alleged that pale a-pu is not a game of chance, inasmuch as the

WHITE GAMBLER HASN'T GOT A CHANCE, recent happenings m Haining-street go to prove that often against the white man the Chink hasn't a, hope. Lately, "Truth" learns, one or more mean white gamblers have broken J a pak-a-pu bank m the "Celestial regions," and that circumstance m itself set many a" Chow/mmft wondering whether his Joss ' had looked side-ways on him. Anyhow, a discovery was made, and so simple, bland and child-like is the Chow that the first white "fiend" made acquainted with the discovery was the big bluff sergeant himself. To break a pak-a-pu bank is, m the language of the initiated,, to successfully mark a ticket. Various marks, from five to ten, perhaps more, are prize winners. Ten marks goes a long way to "bust" a bank, a nd so great, of late, was the run of luck of one or more white men, whose persistency ,m putting m ten mark tickets that one or more Chow banker must have cursed "the foreign devil" for all he was worth. The Chow, though simple, is suspicious, and sundry shavings and chips of wood on the rear roof of the weather-board irookery m Haining-street raised misgivings and an investigation followed. The result of the investigation was that part of- the woodwork of the gable-end of the house, used as a Pak-a-pu bank, had been carefully cut, sufficient to admit a person to spy. This entrance was hidden by a cover made of weather-boards and painted red to match the outside wall, and extending under the galvanised roof. Cunningly screwed to the building, this fixture

ABSOLUTE!, Y DEFIED DETECTION. By removing the attached timber sufficient space was afforded through which a man could wriggle along on his stomach. This "hole m the wall" entered the ceiling loft, and m the room below was where the Chinese gamblers met at various hours to draw the pak-a-pu lottery. A hole was bored through the ceiling sufficiently large enough to enable the individual above to perceive at a glance the winning ticket m a bank. There must have been, of course, confederates outside. To these, no doubt, were promptly intimated the winning ticket, a nd little time would accordingly be lost m rushing to the nearest den and getting m a winning ticket. Several of these were presented by a well-known European m Haining-street, and the Chows viewed him with suspicion. They declined to pay him, and, as we have stated, subsequently discovered how it was possible" for the European and Causcasian to signally demonstrate

THAT HE WAS NOT PLAYED OUT. What might have be'fel any Chinkio who discovered "the borer" up aloft is, of course, impossible to tell, but i m this loft, into which, by the way.

a "Truth" man climbed last Thursday afternoon, was found a mv . r T; r " ous-looking, but rather P™ tlV «: mallet, made of a heavy bloU : ot wood, padded with wool. A blow from this instrument would fract ure a skull, and anybody ffetting.it on Iho "nut" would certainly be rendered unconscious. It does not appear that any particular nd.vidual is suspected, the idea being of course, that it Is the work of a white man. Kven if anybody could be connected it is not likely that proceedings would be taken.