“TURF SERVICE”

Wairarapa Times-Age, 5 August 1939, Page 11

“TURF SERVICE”

TAKING DOWN FOOLISH PEOPLE. AUSTRALIAN FINED £5O. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON. August 4. John Dailey, an Australian, pleaded guilty before Mr J. L. Stout. S.M.. to a charge of making it appear that il an application were made to Godfrey’s Turf Service, the address being a P.O. box at Wellington, information and advice would be given in respect to betting on a certain horse race. It was alleged that through this means he obtained over £lOO from people throughout New Zealand. He was fined £5O. to be paid forthwith.

The police said Dailey arrived on April 11 last and started Godfrey's Turf Service and had seven thousand circulars printed in its name. Over two thousand were sent out and the accused frankly admitted that he received over £lOO in fees. His instructions to his girl typist were, when she went to the Post Office to collect the mail, that she was to take a taxi to another part of the city, dismiss it and then take another to the lounge of an hotel, where she would give the mail to accused. This was to avoid suspicion or detection by the police. Following on complaints, the accused disappeared from Wellington and was alleged to have gone to Auckland. He subsequently came back, after obtaining legal advice, and paid a visit to the detective office yesterday with counsel and surrendered himself.

“It is not very often we have a man of this class appearing before the Court who comes over here for the purpose of taking down foolish people, because I cannot describe them as anything else,” said Detective-Ser-geant Doyle. “They say there is one born every minute and it is quite apparent we have more than our complement in the Dominion, seeing the number that have been in communication with the accused and have paid to receive information which is absolutely valueless. Counsel, in defence, said Dailey was merely a clerk in the office and was not the prime mover in the affair and that he had indicated that there was another man who came to New Zealand with £2OO and made nothing out of it and then trouble came. He disappeared and left the accused to carry on.

Mr Stout indicated that future offenders would have to face imprisonment.