RAID ON CHINESE

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2127, 20 April 1914, Page 6

RAID ON CHINESE

SEVENTEEN ARRESTED

Lively attempt to resist CAPTURE

GREAT PAK-A-POO HAUL

& TON OF TICKETS SECURED

Iri the early hours of Sunday morning & sudden descent was made upon Wellington's Chineso centre, Haining Street, by a posse of police from the' Mount Cook district, as the result of which seventeen. Chineso were taken into ■ custody, the charge against them being that they were, concerned in, or were found upon, a common gaming 'house. The raid was not without elements of excitement, and the police, after securing their men, took possession of perhaps the largest quantity of / gambling paraphernalia which has ever been' captured at one time in New Zealand. '■.■;■ .. .'. . • It was at 1.30 a.m. that tho police force set out for. the Chinese quarter. Tho raiding party was , composed of Senior-Sergeant''Dew, who'has chargo of the Mount Cook district; DetectiveSergeant Cassells, Sergeant'Trohoy, and Constables Dunn, Holmes, and Wilson. The. men had as.their objective No. ; 18 Haining .Street, which has been under observation on suspicion of being a. gaming house-, and tho leader of the .force- was acting undor a search warrant, 'i'ho street was deserted at <Jhe' time, but evidence of activity inside No. J8 was not wanting, for the excited talk Jl Chinese, and the chink of money and dominoes, could bo plainly heard in the street. Entrance Easily Effeoted. To ensure success in the umle-Ttaking, the small body of police- was carefully placed. Senior-Sergeant Dew, with Sergeant Trehey and Constable Holmes, took up a position opposite tho house, ' in the small garden abutting-on the street, while Constables Dunn, and' Wilt eon climbed over a fence into tho backj'ard, and lined up against.a backdoor, which, on being geatly tried, was found to bo locked. Detective Caeselis- held the front door, and thus the only exits rit'roni the building were guarded. Luck , played into the Bands of the police in .'l making an. entrance, : ' for. tliey\ ■ were jenabled to do this before the -inhabitants had had time to secrete anything. Shortly after Constables Wilson, and jDiina had' placed themselves beside the "back door, a Chineso opened it'and 'went into the yard. Unobserved, Con'stable Wilson slipped inside,-and made /for the front room, where ho discovered ;a largo party of Celestials, who were ideeply interested in Chinese dominoes ' and other games. By this time the Chinaman at the back discovered Constable Dunn guarding the door, and he raised a cry, in warning to those insido. The cry was too late, however, for Con> stable Wilson pounced 'on the money and Rambling-discs on the table, end gathered everything in. Struggle for Liberty.

Knowing that, police were at the back 'door, the Chinese dashed to the front exit, and "the. door was quickly flung open. With its opening; Detective Cassells stepped in. His . appearance caused some consternation; then one Chinaman, dashed at the fletectivo, and endeavoured to tlyw him into the street. A violent struegle took,place between the twoj while tne doorway became jammed, with Chinese trying to Ret; out, and th« other members of the force trying to get in. The struggle was brought to a ■ suclden termination, for Detective-Sergeant Cassells tripped his assailant, and the two crashed to the floor, over some articles of furniture. The Chinese, by this time gesticulating and crying in panic, turned for the back door, but Constable Dunn was able to keep them from breaking through' to liberty . .

The six • officers Boon got the upper Tiand in what threatened to develop into a stampede, and the Chinamen were herded into b small. Sergeant •Doff found one tiding under a packingj case, which Jie had monaged to pull . bverriis head, while another had crawled u'nder.a kitchen table. Seventeen in all were arrested, no one having escaped. The uproar had aroused the inhabitants of the stret, and soon Haming Street was alive with Chinese, who, ; jrunninK from all directions, crowdeH in ■front of No. 18. A cab was ordered, Jind-five loads of arrested Chinese todre taken to the police station. By )-5.15.a.m. all were safely lodged at the I Mount Cook Police - Station, •■ and then [the police returned to search tho premises.

■ Ton o{ Pak-a-poo Tickets, i r A remarkable collection came to light yjM' the result of the search. No. 18 iHaining Street is composed of threo ■looms, one largo and two smaller rooms, .and, a rather unusual luxury in the Iweighbourhood, but highly necessary if tho place was to be used as an all-night .gambling/ saloon, tho electrio light !,was installed. Chinese cards ynd I dominoes were found in ( jbundanco on ' the premises, but \jnost important was tho haul made of tickets. It has long been sustoectedthat .was spreading out Jiko an octopus over all the white population in quarter, but yesterday jnorning'a raid clearly shows' that tho has grown to a great size, controlled by an organisation probably ir-oaching out from China itself. Tho pak-a-poo tickets secured weighed a ton, end were contained in eeven large cases. .They, wore all now, and tho extent of the undertaking may be estimated from the fact that all had been imported from China. The cases, ordinary deal crates, were firmly nailed down, arid in addition, were bound with bands of cane in the manner usually adopted by Chinese in packing goods. A neat column of Chinese figures ran down ono Bide (these have not yet been interpreted), while the boxes were also branded C.8., W., N.Z. The capturo of such an immense quantity of tickots should for a time almost paralyse tho game of pak-a-poo, and the evidence gained may lead .to a clue to tho men behind tho system, who are known to be making Jargo sums of monoy.

Chinese Balled Out. A safo was found on the premises, end in this was £90, wliilo on the Cliineeo themselves another £56 in gold end silver was discovered. At the police station the various Chinese were charged as follows:—All Yep; the occupier of the promises, with keeping a common gaming house; Ah Yee, with assisting Jn the management of tho same; and Ah Young, Tai Lee, Wong, Ah Hoo, Ah Yuan, Joo Lee, Yce Gee, Geo, Ah Lun Jim Mee, Leo Long, Tin Bow, Ah Won", Ah Sam, and She Tong with being found on premises used as a common gaming house. During yesterday afternoon Mr. it. D Hanlon, J.P., attended at Mount Cook,-and tho arrested Chinese wore granted bail, which was in t-aoli instance forthcoming. For Ah Yep 't was ftaod at eclf £100 and ono o'-her surety of £100, and tho others were ench granted £5 hail. Thoy w>ll appear at fiio Masistrato'e Court this moning.