SYDENHAM WORKING MEN'S CLUB.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10087, 7 September 1910, Page 5

SYDENHAM WORKING MEN'S CLUB.

COMMISSION OP ENQUIRY.

SENSATIONAL EVIDENCE. DRUNKENNESS AND GAMBLING. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) CHRISTCHUKCH, Last Night, The Commission o* Enquiry into the allegations made regarding ;ha conduct and management of the Sydenham Working Men's Club opened to-day, when evidence was given in support of the charges. One witness averred that he saw more drunkenness in the Club in one week than be had seen in a licensed house in six weeks.

The Secretary of the Club stated that eighteen or nineteen members had been suspended during the past two years for drunkenness Police Inspector Gillies stated that he paid several surprise visits to the Club, mostly after closing hours. On his last visit the bar was closed and few members were about. He had the locker system under review for several years. He con* sidered it a mistake, as,it was an evasion of the law. The locker system was the only thin? in connection with the Club be bad any complaint about.

Another witness rlleged that it was the practice to draw sweeps on the principal race meetings of the year, and Mr Flesber (counsel for the petitioners) produced dome of the tickets Used. The witness stated that some of the mm whose names were on the tickets bad been members of the committee of the Club, and most of them were members of the Club. The Commissioner stated that he bad received a telegram from the Minister,j?extending the scope of the enquiry to cover the- 1 allegations that —'firstly, gambling had been allowed in the Club; secondly, bad language hid been used in the Club; and thirdly, the management of the Club had generally been unsatisfactory. Under theee circumstances the petitioners would be at liberty to call evidence on these points. The enquiry was adjourned till tomorrow.