BOOKMAKER HEAVILY FINED.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 61, 20 November 1907, Page 2

BOOKMAKER HEAVILY FINED.

Per Press Association. Dunedin, Last Night. Benjamin Curtis, tobacconist, pleaded not guilty to three charges of betting tote odds. The evidence for the prosecution was that a man named Geddis sent telegrams to Curtis from "Wellington and Kiccarton races in August backing certain horses, the arrangement being that lie was to be paid at tote odds if he won. Geddis won £B2 14s Od, and in .settlement Curtis sent him a cheque signed by his son, and which was dishonored. Geddis instituted civil proceedings for the recovery of the money, but was nonsuited. The defence was that bets were not made with Curtis himself, who was lying in a semiconscious condition at the time. The Magistrate held the case proved, and said this system of gambling was the most pernicious in existence. It was quite clear defendant was a. bookmaker in the habit of making bets, and on this occasion lie was dishonorable enough not to pay debts owing by him. He thought it was a mean and despicable aet, and he did not intend to take a lenient view of it. He would fine defend £2O on each of the three charges, with lis 6d costs in each instance.