ARE WE A NATION OF GAMBLERS?

NZ Truth, Issue 1183, 2 August 1928, Page 2

ARE WE A NATION OF GAMBLERS?

.(From "N.Z. Truth's" Rotorua Representative.) UORI MAU (s a gambler, but he seems to be quite open and honest n about it. He will have his little bit on — and lay the odds, too no matter what the consequences. Even a fine of £40 and costs is not a' sufficiently cold douche to his gambling spirit, for when Sergeant Hogan and Constable Watters recently entered a local billiard saloon, they found Hori explaining a double chart to an interested group of men.

Hori was quite truthful to the officers. He admitted straight out that he was taking bets. When later charged with breaches of the Gaming Act m the Rotorua Magistrate's Court, he pleaded guilty to the charges.

Speaking |n mitigation, Lawyer Carter described New Zealanders as a nation of gamblers. While one abhorred a welsher, he said, one held a certain amount of admiration for an honest gambler.

Hori's conduct had been open and honest throughout, a fact which might commend itself to the magistrate when inflicting a penalty. While it was true that Hori had been fined £40 on a previous occasion for bookmaking, he was by no means m a large way of business.

Magistrate Paterson said he could not close his eyes to the previous conviction and fine. Hori, however, had been particularly frank and this would be taken into consideration. On the charge of betting he would be fined £25 and for practising as a bookmaker he would b»> required to part up with a further £10.