PENNY POKER

Hokitika Guardian, 19 June 1929, Page 2

PENNY POKER

■ » (Lyttelton Times.) •Pour men charged .with having played penny poker on a ferry steamer On Auckland harbour were before the Magistrate in Auckland the other day. (The evidence showed that one man had sixpence on the deck in front of him\ and another had threepence, and the'Magistrate dismissed the case holding that a game in which the total visible, stakes amounted to ninepence could not be called poker. The question was referred for an expert decision to the sports edior of this journal, whose business it is to know, at least in theory the principles and practice of all card games. His verdict, we regret to say, is against the Magistrate, because after referring to his authorities he finds that poker can be played with matches as stakes and may even be played on credit, though the latter practice is not approved by regular players. We have come to the conclusion, therefore, that the Auckland Magistrate, who was trained in the law in Christchurch and who must in consequence be a man of the world, well versed in human nature and the social customs of the people, probably decided to dismiss the case on pseudo-technical grounds, rather than apply the might of the law to the suppression of a harmless amusement and the punishment of respectable and reputable people. It really looks as if the police, having been baulked of their prey in the matter of euchre parties, have been looking around for other heinous offences to suppress and have hit on penny poker as a suitable object for their zeal. We have a very great respect for the police force of this country, far too great a respect to want to see them wasting their energies on trivialities. It may be that real poker is played by suburban residents during the run of the ferries across Auckland harbour. The idea is not impossible. We have seen games of bridge played on railway trains and have even known quite high dignitaries play very bad bridge under such conditions. And bridge good, or bad, is an offence against the law on a railway journey—doubly an offence if it is bad But the suppression of amiable amusements is not really work for the police, and it is time those in authority realised .the difference between the suppression of systematic gambling and stupid interference with harmless recreation

Of course to some minds there is no difference between the running of a regular casino and the playing of a hand of euchre Tor a penny a corner during the lunch hour on the wharf Both are forms of public gambling. But the difference is definite and material. One is systematised gambling; the other is of no consequence. The