GAMBLING RAID.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1949, 5 January 1914, Page 6

GAMBLING RAID.

PAK-A-POO iN WELLINGTON.

THE EVIL SPREADING.

The ravages of pak-a-poo gambling were the subject of comment in ijio Polico Court on Saturday. On Friday r.ight the Mount Cook police raided premises in Haining Street and Taranaki Street, and the result was that five men appeared iii the dock when the Court sat next morning. According to tho police,-the evil is growing. Mr. J. S. Evans, S.M., fined three Chinese £50 each. The two other cases wero adjourned. . ,' ■

Ah Young (aged 40 years) was' charged witli having used a house in Haining Street as a common gaming house; Ah Wong (52) Was ' similarly charged respecting another Haining Street house; and the accusation was made against Wong Joo (55) in. regard to a house in Taranaki Street. In October last these men wero each fined £20 on similar charges.

Tho trio pleaded guilty. Through the interpret _r, Wong Joe admitted that he had acted as agent for the Jiak-a-poo ''lottery, but ho pleaded for enieney, as ho received only a small percentage on tho sales of tickets. Ah iVpung, who is 40 years of age, said that he used to carry a basket of vegetables round, but that as he now had not strength enough to follow that avocation ho resorted to this to get a living. "I send fruit up the country," said "Ah Wong,'"and stay at this house in Wellington, and when anyone comes in to buy. a lottery ticket-1 sell it to him." '.'.' ' '". ' '

In the course of some remarks on the- I cases, Inspector Hendroy said that there was a number of agencies found the .central bank, and that these wore patronised largely by Europeans. The evil was-steadily growing. One of the -men caught in the raid_ was coming from the direction, in which the bank was reckoned to lie. This man had twenty-live -marked tickets on him, ■which meant that he intended going to twenty-five different places to leave' ono of these tickets at each. In pak-a-poo hundreds of pounds were invested in a day. Several banks were drawn every day. Tickets cost from upwards ; the- higher the cost of the ticket the greater the reward for a win. Every ticket contained a number of Chinese numerals, and the obicet was to score out on' one's ticket the numerals corresponding with thoso Bcorcd out on tho ticket held by the bank. Tho bank was tho place which tho polico could not get hold of. These gambling dens were insanitary places, and they were, frequented by young people, "probably with disastrous results to these youths. . Each oT tho three defendants was fined £50. Samuel Anderson was charged with having been found in a common gaming hoiise = iu Taranaki Street. Ho was remanded till to-morrow on bail (£5). On a charge of having assisted in the management of a lottery, Ah Lum also was remanded till to-morrow. His bail ■was fixed.at £26. Tho police statedthat they will call a considerable amount of evideneo in Ah Lum's caso.