AN UNLAWFUL LOTTERY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 77, Issue 148, 26 June 1934, Page 4

AN UNLAWFUL LOTTERY

LICENSE NOT COMPLIED WITH | FINE OF £2 IMPOSED A defendant at the Wanganui Magis trate’s Court yesterday found himself liable to pay a fine of £2OO as a result of his being convicted of conducting an unlawful lottery. He was able to explain to the magistrate, Mr J. H. Salmon, S.M., however, that his only motive had been to raise funds for the establishment of an institution that would, benefit the public as a whole. Mr Salmon gave defendant credit for acting with the best of moI lives, and imposed a fine of £2, at the | same time granting a request that defendant’s name be suppressed. Detective J. Walsh, who outlined the facts of the case, said that last December defendant had obtained permission from the Department of Internal Affairs to raise funds for a Wanganui institution. Two conditions under which the license was granted stipulated that no commission should ge paid for the sale of tickets and that no tickets should be sold out of Wanganui. Any breach of the conditions were result in the lottery being designated as unlawful. It had been admitted by defendant that tickets had been sold at 33 1-3 commission and that agents had been I appointed to sell the tickets in three centres of the Dominion (Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch). The sum of £4OO had beeu derived from the lottery, and a prize of £5 had been won by a Christchurch resident. Mr Salmon: You don’t suggest that defendant made much for himself? Detective Walsh: All I know is that the ambulance service established by defendant benefited to the extent of £419. Defendant admitted that the detectives had stated his facts correctly, but said that the conditions referred to, if carried out. would not have allowed the art union to be a success. He pointed out that he had made no effort to conceal his actions from the authorities, but had reported the position when a financial statement had been submitted to the public accountant for audit. Defendant said he had hoped the department would have overlooked the two technical breaches. The only motive he had had in not abiding by the regulations was to raise fund? tor the institution which had, incidentally, been made possible. In imposing the fine, Mr Salmon pointed out that there was a danger in not obeying regulations in that the department might be unwilling to grant another request at some future date. i