A BETTING TRANSACTION IN COURT.

Otago Witness, Volume 23, Issue 2684, 23 August 1905, Page 52

A BETTING TRANSACTION IN COURT.

WELLINGTON, August 21. A betting transaction in conn-ection with the last race meeting at Feilding formed th© subject of a case heard before th© Chief Justice to-day. Plaintiff was a .young man named John Jones, and defendant a turf commission agent named Frederio Hilton. The plaintiff claimed £42 5s Bd, being the amount of a cheque drawn by defendant in favour ci on© John M'Williams, for which payment was stopped. The defence was that the cheque was given in settlement of a gambling debt, which was an illegal transaction within the meaning of the Gaming and Lotteries Act. Hilton said that- the cheque for £42 5s 8s was given by him for gambling debts on the first day's racing at Feilding at "totalisator odds" on some three or lour bets. He had an office in. Wellington, but th© bets were mad© by telegraph. One telegraphic order was, "Put 10 on Admiral Cerveras," and another, " Put 10 on Miss King." He made wagers with a man named M'Williams. He had stopped payment of the cheque because M'Williams had played a trick on him with regard to " no-reply telegrams." John Charles Jones, the plaintiff, said he got the cheque from M'Williams in payment of wages. The cheque had not been stopped when he got it, about May 15. His Honor said there was no doubt that what Hilton and M'Williams had don© in regard to this cheque was a crime, as six months had not elapsed since the date of the cheque. He hoped the police would prosecute both of them. It was clear to him that M'Williams thought he could not cash the cheque himself, and so he passed it to Jones, his employee. Jones would have his remedy against his employer. In his Honor's opinion it was a great pity the Legislature had not stepped in and prevented any suit being brought on cheques given for gambling debts. All such classes of cases should not come before a court at all. The question then was whether the plaintiff took the cheque negligently, not knowing that it was tainted with fraud. It would take a lot to convince him that this was not a " put up " tiling between M'Williams and Jones. Decision was reserved.