BETTING IN HOTELS

Hokitika Guardian, 2 December 1930, Page 6

BETTING IN HOTELS

INSPECTOR RAWLE’S REPORT. (By Telegraph—Per Press Association.) WELLINGTON, December 1. The Licensing Committee takes the view that it is improper for a licensee to tolerate on his premises the carrying on of bookmaking which, is a harmful calling, said the chairman, Mr Page, S.M., at the quarterly meeting of the Wellington Licensing Committee Mr Page read the report presented to the Committee by Inspector Rawle, stating that last month a man named Leney was arrested in the New Zealand Hotel and was charged with carrying on the business of a bookmaker. The report stated that on eleven days he was known to be betting in this public bar of the hotel, bells were rung from various bars, and immediately they commenced to ring, Leney left his position in the public bar and went into a passage. When interviewed on the subject of bookmakers and bells, the licensee, Mrs Brongh said that she .did not know Leney had been using the bar for betting purposes, and the bells were for the convenience of the persons who were serving when requiring assistance or requiring change in the bars.

Mr W. Perry, who represented the licensee said, that he strenuously objected to one of Inspector Rawle’s report.- Dealing with the question of the. bells, Mr Perry said that the system in this hotel was no different from that used in any other residential hotel. This system was in existence there long before the present licensee took over the New Zealand Hotel.

A placard showing the parts of the hotel where the bells operated were produced by Mr Perry, who said that the placard was placed in a conspicuous place in the hotel. “It is not a system of hells with any sinister meaning,’ ’said Mr Perry. Mr Page said the committee took the view that it was improper for a licensee to tolerate hookmaking on the premises, and if it were knowingly tolerated the hotel would not be properly conducted. The question of the hells might he a matter to which there was an answer.

.. Dealing with suggestions of after hours’ trading, Mr Page said that the presence of a substantial number of people on’hotel premises lent itself to the suspicion that there was illicit after-hour trading.