BIG POLICE RAID

Waikato Times, Volume 122, Issue 20504, 21 May 1938, Page 6

BIG POLICE RAID

TEN MEN ARRESTED COMMON GAMING ALLEGED PREMISES IN HOOD STREET SUBTERFUGE OBTAINS ENTRY d ™ ethodlcal preparation and a mfrf e .S f subterfu Se, a Party of police (car the flrst raid for at least • ahn°f. a Hamilton gambling school pmlp^ 1 10 p ,' m ' s' es, arday, when they !rr!lf d p E ! em ses at 7 Hood Street and at rested ten men, one, allegedly the P™ p *e to r or a common gaming home and the other nine for being found on the premises.

The police party was headed bi Farfpu 111 T '„ Kelly and Sergeant M. and comprised Constablei Huntly, Donnelly, Mills, Crisp. Tait and Kimberley. Later Constables O Shaughnessy and Findlay assisted. The actual arrests were made by Constables Crisp and Mills. The arrested men appeared In the Police Court, Hamilton, to-day before Mr G. K. Sinclair, J.p. Nelson Joseph McKnight (35), a plumber, WAS charged -with being the occupier of the premises and allowing it to be used as a common gaming house at varioua times between April 10 and last night. The other men arrested were: Roderick Treleaven, Keith Morris, Erin Bain, Norman Wallace, Norman Davies, Heotor Freeman, Alfred Wilcox, Raymond Childs, Edward Richard O’Brien, and Colin Browne. All were .fairly young men, and they faced charges of being found In a common gaming house. Among them they had in their possession £23 iis id, Browne having the largest amount, which was £5 10s 4d. He was the only man released on bail after the arrest. No Warning Qhren The raid was made as a result of information gleaned after the police had watched the premises during the last few weeks. The premises were entered under a search warrant issued this week by Mr S. L. Paterson, S.M. By subterfuge the police encouraged ihe door-keeper to come down the slaircase leading to the street door and open an inner door which guarded the passage upstairs. As the door was opened Constables Mills and Crisp slipped in behind the doorkeeper and ran up the staircase before the men above could be warned. The school was in the upstairs premises owned by McKnight and comprising two rooms, one a large one which McKnight uses as a school for boxing Instruction and the other the owner’s bedroom. It* was in the large room that the ten men were arrested.

No opposition was presented. In a short time the men had been removed by the raiding party to the Hamilton Police Station. During the raid two other men arrived at the premises but not having actually been found on them they were not arrested. In the Court to-day all the men were remanded by Mr Sinclair to appear before the magistrate on Monday. McKnight was allowed ball with one security of £IOO, which 1-s the maximum penalty for the alleged offence. The nine others were also allowed bail, three on securities of £3 and the remainder on their own cognizance of £5. BILLIARD BALOON RAIDED WELLINGTON GAMBLERS FINED (By Telegrapn.— press Association) WELLINGTON, Saturday Following a raid on an alleged gaming house in Dixon Street, where the police found, according to Detec-tive-Sergeant Doyle, a billiard table fitted up for the purpose of playing and gambling, a rubber dice shaker with dice, also cards, a croupier's stick, and other paraphernalia, some 30 men appeared in the Magistrate's Court this morning. They were mostly charged with being on the premises and the bulk of them were fined £2 and costs, but several with previous convictions were fined £3 and costs, and one £3 10s. The charges against the alleged occupier of the premises and his alleged assistant will be brought on May 30.