"THE BOOK" AND THE LAW.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1647, 14 January 1913, Page 8

"THE BOOK" AND THE LAW.

• Sir—ln o3op"tingtho course of enterim a plea of "not guilty" in the case o Police v. Young—a charge of strcet-bettim —Mr. M. Myers, counsel for tho defence on Friday of last week called-on the pro seoution to prove its case. Having lia< the case proved to his entire dissatisfac tion, counsel for the defenco nttackei Detective-Sergeant Cassells (tho deus «: machina), Constable Winn (the factotum; —in fact he hurled his legal javelins at th< whole structure of the* law. Mr. Myers' object in adopting tho course of allowin( the evidence to he adduced, in entering i second plea, ono of "guilty," and then ii attacking'everybody, the while throwini a mantle of protection round the form o 6oino poor, easily-led and police-misguide* Justice of tho Peace, was, so Mr. Mycr; has assured ovorybody in general, ti secure publicity 1 to the almost atrociou: ''third degree" methods of tho wickee detective-sergeant and Constable Wini towards the poor, harmless, honest, anc even hard-working bookmaker, who exist in defiance of a well-intentioned Gamin| Act. Mr. Myers got the publicity his utter nnces deserved. His main • grievance i) Court, and'the grievance more oalml; outlined in The Dominion yesterdn; (Monday), was the liability of a lawles person lik© tho bookmaker, who is si well known, and who is not a will-o'-the wisp, or even a bird of, passage, to be ar rested for an' offence at a moment whel he as likely to carry on his sacred porsol tho vory proofs of his guilt.' Moreover tho scandal of the whole thing is that i law-abiding person (like the bookmaker can be subjected to all tho indignitie pertaining to arrest on a warrant author lised by some simpleton of a Justice of tli Peace, whose main qualification for beitu on the Commission of tho Peaco is tha ho has not a mind of his own and is Habit literally speaking, to be twisted roum tho little finger of a scheming detective sergeant. Furthermore, it seems that Mi Myers's eloquence affected Mr. 'Riddel' S.M., because, gathering from the wav ranted verbatim report of tho cast?, whicl was published in The Dominion on Satut day lost, Mr. Riddoll. S.M., was so full: seized of the legnl outrago perpetrated 01 some poor, harmless, honest, hnrdworkim bookmaker that in imposing a fino of 412 ho expressed his repugnance of the polic tactics. When a magistrate agrees wit! counsel for tho defence, who attacks polici taotics, it no doiibt is prima facio thai ' something ia radically wrong somewhere Now it is pertinent to ask if book maker Young is the first of his laudabk calling who has had tho misfortune tc onduro tho untold agonies of being arrested for making a little bet. It. however, happens that bookmaker Young, to date, ia tho lost individual who, in defiance of public opinion in its relation to bookmakers and street betting, has boon what is colloquially called "nabbed. Since tho crusade against tho bookmaker, which coincides, with Detective-Sergeant Cassells's re-transfer to a city affording • scono for his activities, numorous bookmakers have beon arrested on warrant and locked up, and subsequently: fined. • Thero was no protest till Mr. Myers raised tho question, and, as Mr. Riddell. S.M., himself in many of these cases knew of the circumstances, and imposed fines on the culprits, it is surprising that tho magistrate did not on thoso occasions perceive the iniquity and pernicious nature of tho svstent of arrest, and express his "ieapp'rovnl. What, however, is also pertinent U the fact that tho warrants were authorised by aomobody vested with tho neces-

snry authority. For instance, would it not bo interesting to know for how many of these warrants was.Mr. Riddell, S.M., himself responsible?' Mr. Myers's protest received publicity. Perhaps tho publicity was not tho sort ho wanted, and in this respect The Dominion deserves the commendation of nil sections of tho community for tho publicity given to this matter in the editorial colunins on Saturday morning lost. Tho police .in ' pursuing a .campaign against tho book- ' maker do but their duty, and dearvo encouragement. It is something to tho credit of Detective-Sergeant Cassells that since being transferred from Napier to Wellington (and tho causo of his removal from Wellington to Napier really needs investigation) ho has discovered a method, or is able to employ methods which hovo carried consternation" into the camp of tho bookmakers! slf Cassells within a few months can provo more than a match for tho person who hitherto laughed at tho Gaming Act, it does not .say much for tho combined efforts of the Wellington derives who, it is alleged, tried 60..hjira to suppress the bookmaker, but failed.— I am, etc., ' ■ , FULL CRY. Wellington, January 13, 1913. '