GAMING CHARGES

Wairarapa Daily Times, 20 July 1934, Page 6

GAMING CHARGES

INFORMATIONS DISMISSED. TIMARU, Thursday.. A case of some interest was heard in Court to-day, when Willie Wong, a Chinese fruiterer, was charged with keeping a gaming house, and four other Chinese were charged with being found in a gaming house. The case was a sequel to a police raid when the accused were found in the kitchen of thp premises, playing Mali Jongg. Each man was found with a pile of money in front of him. The case hinged on the determination whether Mah Jongg was a game of chance and thereby an unlawful game. A police witness, Percy Chew Lee, described the game, stating that skill was involved in determining what tiles, as the pieces are called, were held by the opponents and what they were endeavouring to build up. An exhibition game was given in Court by four Chinese. The Magistrate, Mr C. R. Orr Walker, said the police case rested on whether Mah Jongg was a game of chance or contained a sufficient element of skill to remove it from this category. The legislature had determined certain Chinese games as unlawful but Mah Jongg was not included. He had come to the conclusion that there was a substantial amount of skill in the game and the police cases must fail. The informations were dismissed. — (P.A.)