CHARGES AGAINST A BOOKMAKER.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8286, 14 November 1906, Page 6

CHARGES AGAINST A BOOKMAKER.

At tbe Masterton Magistrate's Court, yesterday morning, before Mr W. P. J a »3eß, S.M., Ceoil W. Fully was chfii god with (1) being a person using aad Occupying a place, to wit the niaia passage of. the house kuowo as tho Central Hotel, did on Noveiubur 3rd use the same for the purpose of money being received by hiuu as or for the consideration for an undertaking to pay or give thereafter nionc.v or other valuable on an cvanfc of borseraclng; (2) With, on Novemboi: 3rd, using the Central Hotel for Shu purpose of betting with pcisoiui resorting thereto. Mr B. J. Dclna appeared for tbe polioe, and ivji" 0. A. Pownall for the defendaut, wlu pleaded not guilty. Mr Dolan outlined the facts of the case. Mr Pownall remarked that the facts of the ease were admitted. Serge uil; Millar stated that on the afternoon oi November* 3rd he was pa:i?in:: tho Central Hotel in Queen h'irsot, and saw the defendant standiui/ in the passage of the hotel. Wiuu'ss saw a man named Trower standing by tbe side of defendant, who- was writing something in a book. A telegraph messouger wbb standing near tbe two. When defendant finished writing, Trower gave him a coin, which be (witness) took tuba a sovereign. Defendant put the ooin in his pocket and took the telegram and opened it. Witness called defendant and said to him, "You have been making a with that man? Defendant replied in the affirmative. Defendant denied that Trower gave him a sovereign, but gave no reply whoa witness asked him had Trower • Ripen him a half sovereign. When asked by witness Trower said be had giv'tni defendant a half sovereign on Multifid for the New Zealand Cup. Trower said the money bad been given to him by a man named James Robb, from the East Coast, to back Multifid. Defendant walked away, tut from something that tbe licensee of the hotel said to witness, witness again sought out tbe defendant and asked hiiu if he made the bet in a certain portion of the passage. Defendant admitted making the bet at the spot indicated by witness. : By Mr Pownall: The passage wh're defendant waa standing was commonly used by persons having access hotel. Edward telegraph messenger, gave evidence as to seeing Trower give defendant a half sovereign on tbe date in question. There were several telegrams for defendant that day. Defendant was never in any particular portion of the hotel when telegrams to him were deliveied. Constable Townsend said that he saw the defendant on . several occasions cn the afternoon of November 3rd about the front of the hotel, but he did not see any actual bets made. By 1 Mr Pownall: The passage where defendant was standing was largely used by the public. Defendant ha l no offloe off the passage that he used, neither had he any sign to show that he earned on the business of a bookmaker. Constable .Kyle gave; evidence as to defendant being a recognised bookmaker. Thomas Hounsiow stated that be printed 150 cards for the defendant on the New Zealand Cup. Thegoard was used for double betting and not straight-out betting. Albert Conrad Trower, coach driver, stated that on tbe afternoon in question he met defendant on the doorstep of tbe Central Hotel, and asked, "What price Multifid for the Cup." Detandant replied, "Four to one." Witness gave him a half sovereign, and defendant wrote j something in a book. It was inside tbe door of the hotel that witness gave defendant, the money. Mr Pownall said that be did not propose to cull evidence. It was only a. question of legal argument, and he moved for a dismissal of tbe information in urder to give Mr Dolan an opportunity of replying. The section of the Act under which proceedings had baon taken against the defendant invbived a penalty ol £IOO or six months' imprisonment. It applied that offences under the penal statutes must be proved "right up to the handle." Ho submitted that there was no offence in this oase, and as the law stood at present there wbb no enactment against any two persons making a wager unless that wager was proved to have reference to the working of the totalisator. That was not proved in the present case. Mr Pownall went on to say that the real offence was owning;, occupying, or using a bouße, office or room for betting, and he cited a oase where Mr firadden, S.M., had dismissed a charge against a bookmaker for betting within a few feet of tbe gates at tha Napier Park racecourse at a meeting in/ August last. Mr Bradden held that that was not a "plaoe" within the meaning of the statute. In order to bring tbe defendant within the [meaning or the statute he must be the owner or occupier or keeper of tbe place where he was betting, ; and that was taken, by the Lord-Chancellor of England, to mean that the defendant must have control and oooupation of tbe place where he was betting. The defendant bad no room, offloe, or desk in the passage; he simply occupied the parage along which tbe publio were entitled to pass, and Mr Pownall submitted that that was not a "place" within the meaning of the statute. Mr Dolan submitted that the spot where the betting took plaoe in this oase as a "plaoe" as muoh as tbe bar in the oases of Tromans v. Hodgkinson and Belton v. Busby. Mr .lames held that there was a great difference between a publio Lar, wbere, as in the oases quoted by Mr Dolau, bets were made, and a publio plaoe where the defendant waß only met by ohanoe and booked a bet. The evidence showed that defendant made a bet in the passage on one oooasion only. Mr Dolan submitted that he had proved tbat tbe defendant had used a place for betting, and the using of a plaoe on one occasion only was sufficient tu create a breach of tbe statute. The keeper, user, aud oooupier of a plaoe were, said Mr Dolan, synonymous. It was contrary to common-sense if the Gaming and Lotteries Aot could be

got over by subterfuge of ibe kind in this" ouse. The, Magistrate reserved judgment. A charge against Frederick Stephen Cooper, licensee of the Central Hotel, for allowing betting on his licensed premises, was adjourned until judgment was given in the above oaae.