WHAT IS A TOTALISATOR?

Taranaki Daily News, 6 October 1928, Page 13

WHAT IS A TOTALISATOR?

APPEAL BEFORE THE FULL COURT. ®r TeUOMAr—Press Assoclitlon. r Wellington, Oct. 5. The hearing of the appeal by -Harold Edward Goggih, secretary of the New Zealand Metropolitan Racing Club, Christchurch;; against the decision of the Christc’hiireh magistrate, Mr. E. D Mosley, in convicting him that as. a servant of a racing club he. did unlawfully 'permit' to :be;-received an investment on the totalisatpr elsewhere than pt the totalisator itself, was continued in the Full Court t|iis. morning-. Decision was reserved. Besides the...main totalisator the club used two separate windows, one in the members’ stand, and one'in the stewards’ stand,..and these windows were not connected with the main totalisator. The windows were closed before the main totalisator and after an official had checked the sales at them such sales Vere recorded on the face of the main totalisator. Counsel for appellant submitted that tho boxes were part of the totalisator and that therefore there was no offence. Counsel for informant urged that that argument was fallacious, for counsel had been speaking as to the popular meaning of‘the word “totalisator,” and had forgotten that what the court had to decide was the meaning of the word as defined ln ! thb Act of 1908. So far as interpretation of the statute was concerned the word remained the same to-day as it did in 1881, when the original Act legalising the use of the totalisator :was passed, continued informant’s counsel. Witnesses , for the defence in the ciodrt below had spoken as to what the public considered the word to mean to-day, but that was no guide as to what the legislature meant in 1881. The boxes complained of had none of tho characteristics of tho original totalisator, and in the light of the statute they could -not be considered portion of the totalisator. ’ An essential feature was a mechanical device fcr indication of the amount laid on each horse and, incidentally, the total amount laid on tho race. Mr, Justice Recd remarked that he was at a loss to know why the police had brought the prosecution, for there was no allegation against the Metropolitan Club of *hub«.