THEIR SIMPLE GAME.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LX, Issue 143783, 6 May 1912, Page 4

THEIR SIMPLE GAME.

BATCH OF CHINESE GAMBLERS. There was a Chinese invasion at the Central Police Court, Sydney, last week. A small battalion of the gentlemen from the land of tea, ranging in ago from 82 to 27, spread themselves across the court from side to side. There wore outlying flanges of yellowness overflowing into the, corridors. There were so many of them that nobody—not even the court officials, or the" interpreter, or the accused’s solicitor, or the magistrate:—knew which was which—or where. Twenty-eight names were on the charge sheet, but most of the 28 must havo brought friends along. ,„ . _ There were Chongs and Chins, Doos and Huns, Sins and Suns, Yccs and Yens, and Yows and Yalis, represented in this Oriental convocation. Mr. J. J.' Carroll appeared for the whole crowd of accused, 27 of whom were charged with playing tow-en-gow at a house in Foster Street, in the Chinese quarter, on the 19th inst., while the 28th, Wong Sing, was charged with being the doorkeeper of the gambling den. In desperation at the failure of an attempt to distinguish one of the Chiifeso from another, the defending' solicitor referred to one of his clients as No. 16. He wanted the charge against Ah Yow withdrawn, as Snbinspector Kellv, who led the raid on the 19th, was satisfied that that particular man was on the premises for a lawfpl purpose. The others all pleaded guilty. Mr. Burton Smith; But Ah Yow is No. 28. The Interpreter; There aro two Ah Yows. Mr. Burton Smith: Y’es; arid an Ah How, and Ah Sow, and Ah You, and Ah Yoe. —(Laughter.) Anyhow, Ah Y’ow is discharged. Sub-inspector Kelly, Sergeants O’Dea and Allen, and Constables Green, Nicholls, Hooper, Slierringham. and AVri.'dit had been watching 66 Foster Street for many days. They had seen Chinese going in and out in scores, and at twenty past 10 on the night of the 19th they rushed the place. The defendants were all inside, but the passage was blocked, and when the officers got into the gaming room nil the money had been taken up. They searched all the defendants, and the most money found on any one person was £l7 16s. Others had sums ranging from £5 downwards to the losers, some of whom had nothing. Mr. Carroll; This game is the simple game of dominoes, played exactly as it is played in nearly every cafe in Sydney, It was confined to the Chinese 1 themselves, and there were no Europeans present. Friday was their pay day, and they were simply enjoying themselves.

Mr. Burton Smith fined Wong Sing £ls 15s, or three months, and each of the others £2, or 21 days each. The Interpreter; They want time to pay. Mr. Carroll: Some can pay, but I do not know which.

Nobody suggested the expedient of sending a policeman along the rank to feel in the defendants’ fiockots to see, what bullion they were carrying, and eventually the whole 27 were allowed time.