PETITION FOR BARRY.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13654, 24 July 1908, Page 6

PETITION FOR BARRY.

To the Editor of the "Timaru Herald." Sir, —Michael Joseph Barry was sentenced to a fine of £IOO or three months, for alloM'ing a few local gamblers _ the use of his premises to play two-up- Needless to say he took the three months i'S a protest" against the unjustneas of the penalty imposed. A Chinaman in Christcburcb a few days ago was fined £lO for running a. pak-a-pu game which appears by a cable message appearing in your ii-.sue of yesterday to be a game of (no) chance, as the odds against winning are .one in elcveu millions. For this lovely swindle this yelloM- man gets let down with a fine of £lO, -while a common white like Barry gets knocked out with a- savage sentence of £jloo or three months, for conducting a real game of chance, in which the ,;<}'l to win or lose are even. I hold no brief for gambling, but gambling like sly-grog selling is necessarily only indulged in by gambling or drinking men, and the capture by the police, the press report*, the sentence by the magistrate read like one of Dan Barry's awful melodramas. Considering that "Barry is a firet offender against the laws of the land I can only come to the conclusion that the crime dots not lit the punishment.—l am, etc., MODERATE.