RAID AT PETONE.

Taranaki Daily News, 21 December 1920, Page 5

RAID AT PETONE.

IN A GULLY IN THE HILLS. SURPRISED BY POLICE. For some time paft the police have suspected the existence of a "two-up" ! school in the Petone borough; in fact it was common knowledge that a number of young men met each Sunday for the purpose of playing the illegal 'game, but the precautions that were Itake'n made it a difficult matter for the 'police to surprise the players. Near to the pipe bridge, that spans the Hutt River, is a wealth of scrub, and in the centre of this it was the practice each successive Sunday for men to congregate and gamble. Scouts were placed in positions where anyone approaching could be easily seen, but the alertness of the police had the effect of breaking the school up and a more secluded I spot was found. i IN THE BUSH. I In a steep gully in the Korokoro hills, at no great distance from the Petone railway station, a "two-up" school, it is alleged, was established. A space was cleared in the dense bush, a ring was formed, and round it logs were ed for the convenience of patrons. The situation was Such that scouts, when occupying the natural 'vantage points, had a dear view in practically every direction. Word could be sent to the players, long befc/e a person could enter the bush, and it was almost impossible for the police to raid the school without their approach being observed. A SUCCESSFUL SCHEME. On Sunday morning Senior-Sergeant Bird, of Petone, put into operation a ficheme which resulted in nine men being arrested on charges of being rogues and vagabonds. Senior-Sergeant Bird, with eight epnstables, secreted themselves on the hills at an early hour in the morning and patiently waited eventualities. In the afternoon about twenty men arrived on the gcene and at 2.30 o'clock the police rushed the clearing. The men scattered in all directions and a wild scramble took place through the standing timber and underscrub, the net result being that the following men were arrested: Frank Salkeld, Albert Cameron, Ernest Leckie, Joseph Wynness, Walter Lawson, John Lindsay Banks, Anthony Moran, Eustace Schoefer and Cyril Watkins.

CHARGED AND REMANDED. The men were marched to the Petone poliee station, where they were charged with being rogues and vagabonds, and each man was subsequently allowed his liberty in bail of £lO. As the police and.arrested men were coming down from the Korokoro hills upwards of forty men, who had arrived from Wellington by train, were seen and believed to be making their way to the clearing in the bush, but on eeeing the police they made off in another direction.