CO129-289 - Individuals - 1898 — Page 356

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13 the evidence of Sham In the Convict. He states that the gambling carried on in Na Hong was almost entirely by bookies, that out of ten gamblers nine would be bookies and about one a petty trader that occasionally prostitutes from adjoining brothels who entered sometimes by the rear gambled there, and that the capital which was issued by himself to the banker each day was $50 and when winnings amounted to another $50 it was sent out to him. He further stated the houses in which gambling was carried on are small, and when gambling was carried on in No 5, it was so dark that it was necessary to have lamps lit by day. He also states that gambling has not been carried on continuously and that it had been carried on in various houses now, as you may easily learn, most of the houses in Wa Hang are public brothels: therefore there would be nothing unusual to attract the attention of patrolling Police by the fact that several persons went in and out of the houses. As a matter of fact, there would be fewer persons going in and out of a gambling house than one of the brothels. I submit that what there is of evidence in Sham In's Statement tends to show that gambling has not been carried on on anything like the large scale you have tried to make out. According to the accounts, the profits are much less than...