STREET BETTING

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 185, 15 November 1910, Page 4

STREET BETTING

PROCEEDINGS UNDER A BY-LAW. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Wellington, Last Night. At the Magistrate's Court to-day, Terence O'Hagan was charged with using Willis street on September 2> for the purpose of betting, contrary to the city by-laws; also with committing an act for the purpose of aiding William Ham, bookmaker, to commit an offence, namely, making a bet in Willis street. O'Hagan was called as the principal witness in the recent prosecution against Ham for illegal betting, but owing to deafness, loss of memory, and persistent assertions that he recollected nothing of what it was alleged he had admitted in a written statement to the police, the prosecution collapsed. Mr. Wilford, who appeared for O'Hagan, said the accused was not aware of the questions he had answered until he saw reports in a newspaper, and he wished now to acknowledge the correctness of the detective's statement. Questions by counsel and the police elicited only a rambling and disjointed statement to the effect that the accused did not know "what they were talking about, nor what they were writing." The Magistrate, Mr. Riddell, said it was no good going on with witness. He had admitted making the bet, and would be fined £3 and costs (7s), in default fourteen days' imprisonment. A fortnight was allowed in which to pay.