BOOKMAKERS IN COURT

Chronicle (Levin), 22 August 1947, Page 4

BOOKMAKERS IN COURT

THREE MEN FINED A TOTAL OF £125 Fines totallrng £125 were imposed on three men charged in the Magistrate's Court, Levin, today wirh the offence of bookmaking. They were William Frederick Ryder, hairdresser and tobacconist, Levin, Solomon Heremaia, labourer, Hokio Beach, and Henry George Hunt, 1 tobacconist, Levin. The former was fined £75 and the others £25 each. All pleaded guilty. When Detective-Sergeant J. G. Long and Constable R. Gillespie visited the premises of defendant Ryder at noon on August 16 they found evidence showing that a. total of £20 had been taken in bets that day, said Sergeant W. Grainger. They also found evidence of 126 bets having been taken the previous week, amounting to • £114 7s 6d. Defendant had been before the court on a similar offence in May, 1945, and his telephone had been " removed as a result of that conviction. He was in the business to a much greater extent than the others. Appearing for Ryder, Mr. J. P. Bertram said that the bookmaking activities of his client had been restricted since the last appearance in court, when he was deprived of the use of his telephone. When imposing the conviction and fine, the magistrate, Mr. A. M. I Goulding, S.M., said it was obvious that Ryder was in the business to I a much larger extent than the i others. The fact that he was, for medical reasons, unable to do manual labour, and had consequently found difficulty in securing other employment, was submitted by Heremaia. He had been discharged from the forces as unfit, but was not in receipt of a pension owing to the" fact that the authorities claimed that the physical dis- | ability had existed prior to his j enlistment. He had a wife and five children, and the only assistance he had from the State was £2 10s comprising allowances for j these children. He had been unable to find suitable work, and claimed he had to find some means to support them. ' Sergeant W. Grainger, after also referring 'to defendant's position, stated that this was the first charge against Heremaia under the Gaming Act. He was acting in the capacity of an agent, and had no set place of business. When apprehended he had taken twelve bets amounting to £8. "You must be fit for some type i of light work. You can't go on j breaking the law," was the comment of Mr. Goulding. When convicting defendant and imposing the fine of £25, he added that he j was assuming that like all those I acting as agents, the "bigger man"! would actually pay the fine. When they had visited the prem- 1 ises of the defendant Hunt, Queen ! Street, the police had found evi- i dence of bets having been taken to | the extent of £14, said Sergeant j Grainger. Defendant had been ; before the court in 1945 on a simi- j lar offence, and on that occasion j he had been deprived of the use of ; his telephone following a conviction. . His business had conse- ! quently been restricted and Hunt! had stated that he had given up | bookmaking for a while, but had found that he was losing customers at liis tobacconist establishment. In view of the fact that defendant was in a small way this time, he would make the fine smaller than usual, • said Mr. Goulding, 1 when entering a conviction and imposing the fine of £25.