NO LOTTERY.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19147, 2 November 1927, Page 14

NO LOTTERY.

"WEEKLY PRESS" CHARGED. | INFORMATION dismissed. Alleging that a scheme, wherel>y £1 was given to a certain person, who appealed in a photograph, was a breach of the Gaming Act, the police proceeded agaiust the "Weekly Press" in the Lower Court yesterday. Mr 13. D. Mosley, S.M., was on the bench. Leslie ■ Norman Scholfield, publisher of the "Weekly Press," was- charged that. he commenced a scheme whereby prizes were disposed ol by a mode ot chance.

Mr R. A. Cuthbert appeared for Bchoifield. thief-l>etective Lewis stated that the '•Weekly Press'.', had published cor vain photographs in winch a ring enrircieua person's ■riug called 'at-■■'the office of the paper,, he was entitled to receive £l. There was a- similar scheme in respect to boys, who were entitled to receive ss. It was contended that the scheme constituted a lottery. People would buy the paper to. see if they had gained the prize. It was held that, jvhere prizes ■were distributed haphazardly, it was a breach of the Gaming Act. The' Magistrate: I cannot see that it constitutes a lottery. Have you any. proof that it is a lottery ? •. ' Chief-Detective Lewis stated that there was no proof, but it was alleged that the prizes were given haphazardly. The Magistrate: I cannot give a decision haphazardly. Ther6 must •be evidence. . •Mr : Cuthbert, stated that it was clearly not a scheme by. which prizes, were given by a mode of chance. There was little, if anything, to differentiate it from a similar case that had been dismissed. The scheme amounted to the fact that the "Weekly Press" gave a present of £l. The Magistrate: That's ■what it looks like to me. Mr Cuthbert said 1 hat there was no element of chance, and there was nothing of a lottery about the scheme. The question before the Court was whether it was a legal advertising device.

The Magistrate: T cannot see what evidence of a lottery there is in a pi ft by the company to a certain' person. There iV no evidence before the Court to- justify 3 eoiiviction.: The information Trill lie dismissed.