GAMBLING DEN.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 47, 19 November 1907, Page 5

GAMBLING DEN.

VA SENSATIONAL ARTICLE. AN AUCKLAND ESTABLISHMENT DESCRIBED. ALIVE WITH ALARM BELLS, (BT TELEGRAPH—SFECIA.L CORRESPONDENT.) Auckland, November 18. Tho . " Star," undor the above 'heading, publishes a sonsational article this evening. Tho papor statos: —That there exists in tho very.heart of the city of Auckland a gambling don which may, without exaggeration, bo compared with tho notorious " Gaffing" schools of Sydney and 'Frisco, will seem to many -almost incredible, yet, for a period of over three yoars, thcro Has boen a rendezvous near the heart of the city at which consorts a motloy crowd drawn together by a common object—the gaming table. Possibly tho locality in which it is situated is in a pertain senso ia safeguard, There is nothing' suspicious about tho establishment from its outside appearances. It forms part of a two-story: building, and, to the unsua pecting,. has nothing to distinguish it from the numerous other business places thereabouts. ■ A WONDERFUL SCENE. Witttn its precincts, however, a wonderful scone presents itself, and so completo is the By stem ,on whicih tho placo is worked that its long immunity is'not to be marvelled at. In fMtj .it ii known that ono or more raicls planned/by the 'polico have been rendered nugatory through' the Extraordinary means possessed by the establishment for obtaining early, information when danger threatens. 'At .'fell hours of the day and night this gambling 'den is open to its- members. It is, not confined <to a small coterie of gamesters, but oounts amongst its habitues men of every calling and stage of life. Men well-known itf ] Auckland business circles , consort Vitbi'" thugs," thieves, and spielers. Even ss in the Sydney two-up so'--A- where the callow youth arrives from the (lirptro still elad in his idress suit and takes Hs placo beside the/lowest debaucher, so in this Auckland gaming-house are to bo found men who by day,carry, on businoss under the smug countenance, of respectability, arid at night associate;'with a degenerate crowd intent on securing the excitement for. which they crave;, and desirous of trying their luck with kip, , dice, or cards. Large sums of money change : hands, at times.