| PEOPLE |
YEAR: 1967
 |
When Mr T W Allsopp, the senior racecourse inspector, retired on March 31 he had served the Racing and Trotting Conferences for 20 years to the day. Mr Allsopp took up his appointment with the NZ Racing Conference on April 1, 1947.
Mr Allsopp's distinguished record of service to the NZ public extends over 43 years. Twenty-three of those years were spent in the police force and if he had that time over again he would not settle for anything different.
Mr Allsopp was born in Stafford, England, in November, 1897. As a youth he assisted his father in the family butchery. At the outbreak of World War I he entered the Coldstream Guards, became a sergeant, and was awarded the Military Medal for his service in France. After leaving the army Mr Allsopp came to NZ. In 1924, four years after his arrival from England, he joined the police. His first posting was to Dunedin, in the uniform branch. Twelve months later he was transferred to the detective branch.
In 1928 Mr Allsopp was posted to Auckland, and it was there that he was assigned to a case which made history. It was the Lakey murder case in October, 1933 - better known to the public at the time as the 'Bayly Trial.' This double murder took many months of painstaking investigation, persevering research, precise observation and deduction, and magnificent team work by Mr Allsopp and Detective T Sneddon before William Bayly was arrested and brought to trial for his crime.
Several records in criminal history in NZ were established during the trial. Five weeks were occupied at the Auckland Supreme Court and the depositions filled 483 typewritten pages, representing about 200,000 words. Seventy-seven witnesses were called and 274 exhibits produced. The cost of the trial was estimated to be £4000. Mr Allsopp is said to hold the police record for the longest evidence ever given in a murder trial in NZ. His depositions consisted of 60 typewritten pages and he was in the witness box for more than two and a half days. As a result of their part in the investigations Detectives Allsopp and Sneddon were both awarded records of merit and increases in pay.
Mr Allsopp was transferred to Hawera in 1940 as detective in charge of the South Taranaki and Stratford districts. A little over a year after that transfer Mr Allsopp was again in the 'headline news' in another murder case. The victim was a Mr A H Parkinson, a 78-year-old store-keeper who was found murdered in his shop at Waitotara on August 5, 1941. The murderer, a Maori named Katene, was arrested at Patea less than two days after the murder. The accused was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment. Katene was the first murderer to be sentenced in NZ after the law was amended and capital punishment abolished. Once more Mr Allsopp received commendation from the trial judge for the manner in which the case had be investigated. A further tribute came from the counsel for the accused, who stated that the accused wished to refer to the scrupulous fairness and often kind treatment from Detective Allsopp and his associate Detective J Murray. Cousel said it was realised that both men had done their duty according to the highest traditions of the detective service.
When Mr A E S Ward, NZ's first chief racecourse inspector - he was appointed in 1921 - annonced in February, 1947, that he intended to retire, the Racing Conference did not have to look far for a successor with outstanding credentials.
Unlike many positions connected with racing - about which there is a certain aura of glamour - racecourse inspector is a 'behind the scenes' job. The public, in general, would hardly know such a person exists. The primary duty of racecourse inspectors is excluding or removing from racecourses during race meetings all undesirable persons. In a report to the conference, on behalf of the racecourse inspectors, of whom there were five, Mr Allsopp said that during last season 620 persons had been warned off the course and that since the 1960-1 season the total number of persons so dealt with had been 3171. It is also the duty of the inspectors to interview 'excluded' persons seeking relief. Their reports are submitted to the conference. Last season 113 persons were granted exemptions.
Other duties performed by the inspectors include inquiries and reports on applications for probationary engagements of lads beginning employment at racing establishments; applications for licences by trainers, jockeys and amateur riders; probationers and apprentices leaving their employment; misconduct at any time by licensed persons; alleged breaches of the rules of racing and trotting; investigations in connection with with suspicious ownership and changes of ownership of horses; investigations in connection with the drugging of race horses and trotting horses at meetings; any investigation requested by the Totalisator Agency Board; matters incidental to the various phases of racing and trotting administration; disputes at racing establishments; advice to licensed persons as to their well being in racing; annual visits to all racing establishments to prepare reports to the conference and district committees on all licenced persons, living conditions of employees and conditions of premises.
But an inspector's life is not all dreary routine. There is always the possibility of the unexpected happening. Mr Allsopp was involved in one such instance within a few months of his appointment. While on duty at the Nelson Trotting Club's meeting in April, 1947, he was informed that two pickpockets were working on the course. With the assistance of Senior Sergent H E Knight, who was in charge of the police party at the meeting, he apprehended both men. Mr Allsopp was a key witness at their subsequent trial in the Supreme Court at Nelson in July,1947. In his evidence he described the way the pickpockets had worked as they mingled with the crowd. The man actually picking the pockets of unsuspecting racegoers passed the stolen property to his confederate who stood close behind. The second man had an overcoat slung over one arm and his other arm down through a sleeve. This method ensured that the property, drawn back through the sleeve, never came into view. The pickpockets, both Australians, were found guilty and each sentenced to two years in prison.
For two years after his appointment as a racecourse inspector Mr Allsopp was stationed at Palmerston North. Since 1949, he has lived in Christchurch. Tom Allsopp will be missed by his colleagues in his own circle, by club officials, and by newspapermen who held him in the highest regard. He brought credit to his job, and to himself, wherever he went.
Credit: NZ Trotting Calendar 5Apr67