PAKAPOO GAMBLE

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 82, 3 October 1931, Page 14

PAKAPOO GAMBLE

CHINESE SHOP RAIDED

EUROPEANS CAUGHT

KEEPER FINED £30

Police officers raided a shop at 180, Taranaki street last evening and found six Europeans and three Chinese Bitting round a table with pakapoo tickets and markers in front of them. All the men were arrested, and at the Magistrate's Court to-day Mr. T. B. M'Neil, S.M., fined Ala Wong, the keeper of the place, £30, in default two months' imprisonment, and his assistant, Ah Fong, £25,' in default six weeks' imprisonment. Sub-Inspector Lopdell said he did not know what the relation was between the accused and the pakapoo bankers, but be thought it was probable that they would find the money. The Magistrate accordingly granted them one week in which to pay. . ""' ' The Europeans, Peter Ward, a watersider aged 59, Johnstone M'Donald. labourer, aged 49, Archer Thompson, clerk | aged 31, Charles Cook, carpenter, aged 45 George Evans, storeman, aged 42, and Kenneth , M'Kenzie King, labourer, who were charged with being found in a common gaming house, were each fined £1. VISITED BEFORE. Sub-Inspector Lopdell said that the house was known to the police as a place where pakapoo tickets were sold. ' The place, which was visited by a number of Europeans, was open day and night, and as . rule there were two Chinese there selling tickets. A constable had called at the house on several occasions and had bought tickets. He was not known to the Chinese, of course. Joe Lum, a gardener, aged 44, who >vas also charged with being found in a common gaming house, was represented by Mr A. Cressvvell, who pleaded guilty on his' behalf, but; told the Magistrate that he had gone to the' house for a friend, Ah Chop, in order to give him a bank draft. Ah Chop was not there, however, and lum was" caught. The explanation, said Mr Cresswell, was borne put by the fact that the draft had been found in his possession when he was arrested. The Sub-Inspector said' that Lum appeared to be acting as a runner between the banker and.the agents. Mr. M'Neil did not think the explanation was a sufficient excuse, and inflicted a fine.of £i. ' .' ENTRANCE NOT BARRED. Referring to the charge against Wong, Mr, Cresswell said that although the police said the house had been used for the.sale of pakapoo tickets for some time. Wong had only been in Wellington for a fortnight and could not be held responsible for what happened before he arrived. Ike. case differed from those in other centres, wher the doors and windows had been barred. In this instance the police had no difficulty whatever in gaining' entrance. Counsel said -that the accused hi I no previous convictions, and asked the Jiagistrate to fix as light a fine as possible. , ■ • Ah Fong, for, whom Mr. Cresswell also appeared, pleaded not guilty. . Senior-Sergeant Scott said that when the place was raided under warrant at 730 last night Wong was sitting down at the,, table with a market—a small brush used to mark the Chinese characters on the tickets—in his hand. When questioned, Wong admitted that he was_the keeper of the house, and said that Fong was his assistant. . Fong did not deny this statement. . . Mr. M'Neil said he was satisfied that Fong was assisting, and entered a conviction against him. .