CLAIM FOR STAKE MONEY.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2561, 23 July 1909, Page 7

CLAIM FOR STAKE MONEY.

. JUDGMENT FOR DEFENDANT.

In the Magistrate’s Court, before Mr W. A. Barton, S.M., James Sexton (Mr. Coleman) claimed £SO from Joseph J. Martin, proprietor of the Royal Hotel, being the damages , claimed through defendant refusing to pay over the amount of a stake alleged t to have been won by him in a foot race held on the Victoria Domain on Thursday, June 24th, when plaintiff defeated Michael Griffen. Mr. Burnard appeared for the defence. Mr. Burnard said that he would like to explain that Mr. Martin’s position was that of a stake-holder, and he had received notice from interested parties hot to pay., up. That was the reason the_stake had not been paid. •Mr. Coleman said the full stake was £IOO aside, so that whoever won the race would get £2OO. The plaintiff had found the £IOO in two payments of £SO, and lodged them with the defendant. The race was subsequently won, and the plaintiff was the winner. In the evening ho applied to the defendant for his money. Defendant said that he had received notice from Messrs Kirk, Burnard, and Sievwright not to pay the money over. The defendant had paid £l5O of the £2OO, being the £IOO found by the plaintiff °ml £SO found by the defendant, but he refused to pay over the £SO balance, which had been found by a man named Owen, the wishing to withdraw his money because it was alleged that the Taco was not a “straight go.” If that point was raised in the case it would be shown that an attempt was made to bribe the plaintiff, but that the race was run fairly and the best man won. All witnesses were ordered out of Court and Mr Coleman called Thomas Somers, who said he knew both plaintiff,and defendant. He. was present at the Royal Hotel when the’ match between Griffen and Sexton was arranged. Martin said he would back Griffen. Witness found £SO towards the stake for Sexton and handed it to defendant. Martin put in a cheque for £SO, and an agreement as to the conditions of the race was drawn up and signed. A few days afterwards witness handed defendant the £SO, balance of the-stake. Witness, was present when the race was held and plaintiff was declared the winner. Witness went with Sexton to the Royal Hotel on the evening of the race and asked defendant for the stake money and Martin said he had received notice not t-o pay out from Owen. Witness asked for the notice, but defendant would not show it. Owen and a number of men were present. To Mr Burnard: The defendant was much upset in mind after the race. He did net hear any allegations about the /' race until the following day, by which time the rumor was all over Gisborne. The time for the race was 4 minutes 38 ' seconds, but witness could not say the course was 17 yards short. The money witness .put up belonged, to Robert Petersen. Witness could not say if Petersen was a bookmaker or if Harry Aston was a party to the stake. Witness did not knew that Sexton was a disqualified athlete. Mr Coleman admitted the disqualification. The plaintiff corroborated the evidence of the last witness in regard to the payment of the stake. He went to the hotel at 8 p.m. on the night the match was arranged. __ Witness won the race and no protest was lodged. When witness asked defendant to pay over the stake he refused to do so because he had orders'-from a solicitor not to do so. If witness won the race he. was to get £SO out of the stake. His true name was Sexton, hut he had run races under the name of Searle. To Mr Burnard: He did not take a man named Terry to Victoria, neither did ho take Terry down. Mr Somers was the first to suggest the race with Griffen. He did not come to Gisborne to race hut to get work. He had not found twork yet. He drank a lot of beer, hut he did not train for the race on beer. He had never got Aubrey Nicholls to approach Owen and Kelly to put up money for the race, but it was understood tliat Owen should hack Griffen and witness should lose the i-ace. Owen told witness that there was a lot of 1 money to back him, and asked if witness would lose the race, as it would pay him better. Owen said he would put up £2OO or £3OO and give witness half to let Griffen win. _ Witness agreed to lose, but had no intention of losing all the same. That conversation took place after the stakes were found. Owen was introduced by Alf Nicholls,, and frequently had conversations with him as to who _was to win the race. Owen was led to believe that witness was not going to win. Witness did not know Owen was finding a part of tho stake. "\\ itness had a* 3 conversation with Griffen prior to the race, but did not agree to let Griffen win. He had never been charged with any serious offence. He thought Griffen was exhausted after the race- and appeared to have done his best to win. He had agreed to race. Griffen again and allow 20 yards start. Owen suggested that he and witness should knock a few quid out of the race. That was the way witness usually worked. Owen added that witness would catch a lot of money if he would go dead. The Bench: That is what keeps the sport so clean. Witness, continuing: Owen did not pay witness any money. ’He never told Kelly he would lose the race, but he thought Kelly understood witness would lose. He. met a man named Hutton on the morning of the race. Mr Coleman then closed his case. Mr Burnard said the defence would he that the plaintiff had taken down his friends. His Worship: He did not wish*to deceive the public. (Laughter.) ' Mr. Burnard, continuing, said that it would hardly bo necessary to go into the merits of the. race, but he would apply for a non-suit on several grounds. The first was that the defendant was not a party to the contract, and an action for a- breach of a contract to which Martin was not privy could not he maintained. The agreement was between Sexton and Griffen, and if there was a breach Griffen should have been sued. The Gaming Act, 1908, prohibits any sum .of money lodged as a wager to be recoverable at law. _ His Worship: Is the stake a wager: Mr Burnard: It was called a wager in the agreement; but the law provides that no sum of money shall be recoverable at law on the result of a race un~ - less it /was won as a prize., / Mr. Coleman said he would not dis- ' pute.vjh- principle that a wager could not bt Vfccovered, at,law; but the. claim was for damages through defendant not paying over the full stake. Footracing was recognised as a lawful game, and the contract was legal, and the party who broke the contract was answerable for a breach. Martin .became a party to the contract by p-vmg in £SO, and giving .receipts for the full amount. . ■ . ~.. His Worship: Plaintiff is rtiF imng for the stake moneys oven i: he claims

it as damages. You'can call it by another name, but it amounts to tho same thing. Mr. Coleman: The legislature, lias not put in a quarantine clause, and there is a loophole left. Mr. Burnard: Tho defendant was in the position of a trustee, and is only responsible to the parties who paid the money. v His Worship said he was of opinion that the Gaming Act did not allow tho stake to bo recoverable, and judgment ■Rjould be for tho defendant, with £2 10s costs.

Fires, incipient, destructive, and oomplete, havo been more numerous this winter than ever bofore, so a Wellington “Post” reporter was informed by a prominent fire insurance manager last week. “I put a lot of it down,” said the fir© expert, “to the habit of drying clothes indoors before the fire. A single spark falling on to dry, warm fabrics sets them all ablaze, and there you are. My attention has been specially called to it by the number of small claims coming in for damages to clothes and furniture by tliese miniature conflagrations. People should be 'warned about the danger of the practice, and take all proper precautions in drying clothes. It is one of the most frequent causes of the destruction cf property—this drying things before the fire.” For Influenza take Woods’ Great Peppermint Cure. Never fails. Is 6d and 2s 6d. A high tribute to the nature of the work of the teachers of the public schools was paid by His Excellency the -Governor in Auckland last week. After being conducted over the Training College, in Wellesley-street, and witnessing a practical' demonstration by the principal (Mr H. A. Milnes), His Excellency expressed the x>leasure which the visit had given him. He said they were all thinking a great deal about Dreadnoughts and .the defence of the Empire, but Germany was making in another form Dreadnoughts—that was in training the young. Those engaged in educating the youth of New Zealand were doing something just as fine as the building of Dreadnoughts, and it was something that would assist greatly in keeping New Zealand at the top of the tree. He hoped tliat the students of the college would meet with every success.

An astronomer great, he was siting out late, , With his telescope turned to the sfcclTS ■ When to his surprise, there flashed down from the skies A most palpable message from Mars. He did not understand, but a! code book at hand, Which he hastened at once, to procure, Made the message quite plain —“Influenza again, Can you send us Woods’ Peppermint Cure?”

The report circulated by a contemporary (says the “Man aw at u Standard”) that one of tlie Te Aute players injured in the Te . Aute-Wanganui match at the Winter Shew had died as a result, proves to be incorrect. The olayer, John Ray, has quite recovered from the accident. He is a visitor to Palmerston now, and apart from a sore neck is quite well. Ray, who is a fine stamp of a Maori, is a Gisborne hoy arid nephew of the Hon. A. T. Ngata. Ho explains that in the game against .Wanganui his forehead came into violent contact with somebody’s knee, and he felt something go in his neck. He was laid up for a/ fortnight after the accident, but has now quite recovered.

During the progress of the work of the new bowling green at Riversdale, states the “Marlborough Express,” the contractor came across the bed of an old Maori war canoe, or rather, the place where it had been constructed. On either side of the place where the tree from which the canoe had been made was felled, : were dark patches, indicating the fires, that had been used for the purpose of hollowing out the trunk of the tree, and close to these fires were two pieces of stone, resembling in shape the ancient stone axe used by the Maoris in the early days. The site chosen for the green, strange to say, was originally selected by the chief Te Ruaparaha. The canoe bed was discovered about 18 inches below the surface of the ground.