BOOKMAKING IN BARS

Southland Times, Issue 21257, 2 December 1930, Page 7

BOOKMAKING IN BARS

MEETING OF WELLINGTON LICENSING COMMITTEE.

VIEWS OF CHAIRMAN.

(Per United Press Association.)

Wellington, December 1

“The Licensing Committee takes the view that it is improper for a licensee to tolerate on his premises the carrying on of bookmaking which is an unlawful calling, ’ said the chairman (Mr Page, SM.), at the quarterly meeting of the Wellington Licensing Committee. Mr Page read a report presented to the committee by Inspector Rawlc, stating that in the last month a man named Leney was arrested in the New Zealander Hotel and was charged with carrying on the business of a bookmaker.

The report stated that on 11 days he was known to be betting in public in the bar of the hotel. When the police entered the bar bells were rung from various bars and immediately they commenced to ring, Leney left his position in the public bar and went into the passage. When interviewed on the subject of bookmakers and bells, the licensee, Mrs Brough, said that she did not know that Leney had been using the bar for betting purposes and the bells were for the convenience of persons who were requiring assistance or requiring change in the bars. Mr W. Perry, who represented the licensee, said that he strenuously objected to the tone of the report. Dealing with the question of the bells-, Mr Perry said that the system in the hotel was no different from that used in any other residential hotel. The system was in existence long before the present licensee took over the hotel. A placard, showing the parts of the hotel where the bells operated, was produced by Mr Perry, who said that the placard was placed in a conspicuous place in the hotel. “It is not a system of bells with any sinister meaning,” said Mr Perry.

Mr Page said that the committee took the view that it was improper for a licensee to tolerate bookmaking on the premises and if it was knowingly tolerated, the hotel was not properly conducted. The question of the bells might be a matter to which there was an answer.

Dealing with suggestions of after hours trading, Mr Page said that the presence of a substantial number of people in the premises lent itself to suspicion that there was illicit after hours trading.