SMART POLICE WORK.

NZ Truth, Issue 377, 14 September 1912, Page 7

SMART POLICE WORK.

H6w Powell Was Pounced on.) tlumtifs of a Hunt Club Meeting Justice at Gisborne. , : ..lahj>v. . — __* . Running- a race-meeting without • a note- 4n. New. Zealand is like a. moth-. fere* meet-tog with no scandal to talk aboW. As a matter of earnest fact, it is just as impossible to hold a race meeting m this Dominion without the •ttoie," human or otherwise, as it is for anjf; mothers' meeting to break up m order without having pulled', some■body*s^character to pieces. "Truth" Bays- this much, because it learns that at Gisborne one", day 'recently, Magistrate Barton imposed a fine of £25 and costs or two months' "hard" at the place 'surrounded by a galvanised iron fence, on one William Powell, whose heinous crime was that he made a book «a£- the Park "racecourse on Aug-■ust-23vthe occasion being the meet of . the Poverty Bay Hunt Club, which, /to Simplify, matters, HAgp&T^'OT A "TOTE I^ PERMIT. Incidentally, "Truth" ascertains that a day or so previously Magistrate Barton had a sly -grog purveyor before him, and convicted, him and ordered him td-Vpay £25 and costs/or 30 days m the aforementioned joke of a peni'.tentiary.*:: ...This- little fact serves to show the wonderful workings of the magisterial mind, as it is apparent that ■betting with those who look for it is a worse crime than selling sly grog, and no one ever knows the exact qualities of liquor which the Illicit vendor works oflg.pn. to those who thirst and hold the necessary. Consequently, when "Truth" -learns that the ;wonderf ul workings of Magistrate Barton's mind is puzzling Gisborneites, and.-that a move is being made to get a S.M. with a more equitable sense of the proportion of justice, "TRUTH" ISN'T SURPRISED.; This., paper- isn't exactly kicking at the £25 fine imposed on Powell. He, no doubt, took the risk anu" fell m. "What, "however, '.is troubling "Truth" is whether Powell was the only "book" who took . the risk, - and whether- the Gisborne detective, Mitchell, and his constabulary cobber, Moore, could not have been a little more energetic and bagged a few of the bookmaking fraternityj: ;who • on' "the ' day m question gave it an open go. .If the bookmaker flefcurishes m Gisborne to the extent it ls^alleg-ed he does, and if at a hunt club meeting where thei;e wasn't, any "tote," erfd where every' heavily-backed horse was first past the post, only one of the hard-hit Books was nabbed, , it, occurs to tliat- the- Gisborne detective and his cobber are iTOtTSCOW TO CATCH A'COLD, and that ■m the circumstances. Police • Inspector John O'Donovan- might find it I convenient to, warm _ them up. If. what "Truth" .learns is: correct, nearly, evjery- . recognised bookmaker m Gis- " borhe^ was invited to attend this Hunt' Club nieeting, which, bear m mind, di ( dn!t have a "tote" permit, and, as before remarked, the good r things landed eyery time the "dough", was put on.: Betting -i made , % the interesting, afid a» nearly Tvas 4 in' the-'. jqkes,'.the '^books'' had a bad time, and,; no doubt -because they had a bad time,.* and keep it dark when they are hit,' is one reason why Detective Mitc^iellWasn'itable to land more than one of, the wicked persons. ."Truth" would riot be justified <m saying, that the, pplice at Gisborne on* the day' of the. Pg>Verty "Bay Hunt Club meeting- care-' f filly closed an optic to the' wretched ■gambling., that was carried on by oifher - bookmakers than William P,owell. However, "Truth" suggests to Inspector O'Donovan, of Napier,, who l 4 the; police head of the : district, that i| it is desired that bookmakers who lay 'em at meetings where 1 there is no "|ot,q,'( and wh'eTe the sport is carried 6n "just out of .'■.'. j& sheer love op the thing; and-^where- every prospect 1 pleases and ojily the human "tote" is. vile, special jipHcettieh" "- who don't know the local bookmaker from a bunch of parsri ips should take the trip from Napier, and the" rest /^ll- be easy. ."That only one bookmaker should be snared for laying .'em -at- the Hunt Club meeting ait the Park, is too huge a practical joke, tbven for* Gisborne.