CLUB RAIDED

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21206, 31 August 1940, Page 6

CLUB RAIDED

33 MEN ARRESTED GAMING HOUSE CHARGES COURT HELD AT MIDNIGHT After breaking open two doors to force their way into premises known as the Federal Club at 79 Victoria Stieet last night, a party of police under SeniorSergeant A. G. McHugh and Sergeant D. Austin arrested 33 men on charges of being found in a common gaming house. The raid took place late at night, but a Police Court was held immediately and by the early hours of the morning all the men had been released on bail. The first stage of the raid took place when Senior-Sergeant McHugh and Sergeant Austin, armed with a search warrant and accompanied by 12 constables, approached the premises, which are situated opposite the Theatre. Royal, surrounded the building, and demanded admission. This was refused from the inside and the doors remained locked. First the door on the street and then a door half-way up the stairs had to be broken open before the police could gain entry. Gambling Material Seized On entering the main room of the club the police found a large group of men, and a quantity of gambling material was seized. After arresting all the men on charges under the Gaming Act, the police used the premises as an emergency Police Court, to avoid keeping all the men in custody overnight, with Messrs G. K. Sinclair and F. Findlay, J’s. P., presiding. The Court opened at about 11.45 p.m., just half an hour after.the raid started, and at 1.15 a.m. Bail bonds, charge sheets, entries in the charge book and other details as in the usual Court proceedings had to be dealt with in connection with each of the 33 defendants. James Arthur Frost was charged with being the occupier of the premises known as the Federal Club and with using them as a common gaming house. John Sherard Rawson was charged with assisting in conducting a common gaming house. Remanded until September 5, each man was released on bail at £IOO. Varied occupations were given when the names of the other men were entered in the charge book. Labourers, timber workers, freezing workers and others were included in those who were arrested on charges of being found in a common gaming house. The names of the men, each of whom was released on bail at £5 and remanded until September 5, were as follows:—Mark Triin, labourer; Gordon Alured Bradley, painter; Gabriel Bossad, salesman; Alfred Seagar Buckland, stock agent; George Shaw, motor mechanic; Keith Chilcott, timber worker; Steve Dominikovich, contractor; Alexander Williams, clerk; Alwyn Patrick O’Reilly, electrician; William Henry Main, hairdresser; Eric Alexis Murray, borer; Henry Baker, farmer; Thomas Herbert Gough, outfitter; Norman McLeod Wallace, timber worker; Robert Dunbar Lewis, salesman; Berl Wrlliams, gardener; Noel William Luxton, farm labourer; James Hill, labourer; Richard William Healey, agent; Tony Nohioli, farm labourer; William Brown, packer; Desmond Charles Smith; Thomas William Parker, butcher; Normand Raymond Goodwin; boner; Gordon Muller, cheesemaker; John Arthur Barnett, blacksmith; Leopold Joseph Ramsay, apprentice jockey; Frank George Thomas Carrington, school teacher; John William Winder, jockey; Charlie Joe Hing Wong, fruiterer.