RAID OH ALLEGED GAMBLING HOUSES.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXX, Issue 3495, 10 April 1912, Page 5

RAID OH ALLEGED GAMBLING HOUSES.

AUCKLAND POLICE SECURE A GOOD HAUL. kU ADVENTUROUS REPORTER ARRESTED WITH THE OTHERS, HIS EXPERIENCES' IN CUSTODY, By Telegraph—Special Correspondent. AUCKLAND, April 9. A raid made by the police this afternoon on some half-dozen places adjacent to Queen .Street was the result of an enormous amount of secret betting that is known to be carried on, as it were, under the very eyes of the guardians of the law and about fifty persons were arrested. The fact that this sort -of thing has been permitted to continue unhindered for so long had evidently given- a false sense of security, and the raid made to-day came in the nature of a thunderclap. It says much for the good organisation of the Auckland police that though the raid was planned yesterday evidently not a whisper reached, the ears of the proprietors of the premises., / The force was divided, and whole of the premises were descender Unpractically at the same moment. Tub out of three reporters who had got on to this good bit of new© for the evening paper were arrested, with the crowd of others who entered the various places, on suspicion. One pressman was let off, but the other was kept cooped up in a close stuffy room in company with about thirty others, including a Maori and a Chinaman, and as smoking was not forbidden, the atmosphere was pretty thick It war; quite- a relief when a motorcar was requisitioned and the crowd wer© conveyed to the police station inbatches. The reporter underwent the search, with the rest- of the suspects, hut succeeded in satisfying the zealous sergeant in charge” that he was actually on business.

"I have never seen s-o many innocent men in on© place before,” said one of those whose good fortune it was, to see the crowd in custody. “And the excuses they made! Some did not know how they got in. Several denied haring any knowledge of horse racing or betting, and had never betted in their lives and when search of their pockets unearthed race cards, race memoranda, etc., looked veryfoolish indeed. The most plausible excuse—which was tendered by quite "a. number wag that die was looking for somebody’s office and fell into a police trap;’ but the police were taking no excuses.

The mere fact of a -person being found on premises alleged to be used TJ illegal betting was sufficient- inotification for their arrest. There was no resistance; nobody was handcuffed, and bail was generally accepted after the formal charge had ■been recorded at the police station. [PER PRESS ASSOCIATION.] In point of numbers the police raid to-day was probably the biggest evei effected m New Zealand, and ohe number of prisoners taxed the police station to the utmost before were released on bail. The proceedings were, therefore, removed to the gymnasium of the polic-e force, and in this _ impromptu court justices saw the prisoners and. signed their bail bonds.

The victims were apparently quite happy, though some of the'women seemed distressed.

The police used great tact throughout.