Re: GAMBLING ON THE BOARDS PREMISES IS STRICTLY PROHIBITEDThe abovementioned Board is
Val Golding
Saturday, November 10, 2001 6:03 PM
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GAMBLING ON THE BOARDS PREMISES IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED The abovementioned
Board is, of course, the Melbourne & Metropolitan Tramways Board and the sign
above was prominently displayed in the crews messrooms of every depot.At the
time that I joined the Boards employ late in 1966 and indeed throughout the
whole time that I worked for them gambling was rife and the cry ?deal me in?
resounded around the messroom all day.,It was,however,small time,a game called
red aces played for coins,hardly a threat to a families survival. It wasn?t
always thus.The stories told by the old-timers were another thing
altogether.It
seems that the games got so big and so much money changed hands that certain
wives would show up at the depot on payday to make sure that the housekeeping
came out of the paypacket before other scores were settled.Understanderably
the
Board and its Officers got a bit jack of being the meat in the domestic
sandwich and determined to put a stop to ?Gambling on the Boards Premises?.
Not
so easy,the game simply started up again down the shed in a convenient big
car[they had padded seats].Hanna St.Depot,later known as South
Melbourne,ran an
all night service at this time so the poker game never stopped and obviously
the payday dramas continued too.Apart from the these dramas in the revenue
office some blokes weren?t getting home too often and I?d imagine a lot of
cars
were running out or picking up late on account of waiting for someone to
finish
a hand. Management cracked down again and expelled the poker players from the
car shed but as usually happens things got worse before they got better.The
gamblers moved up the hill to the Tramway waiting shed in St.Kilda Road taking
the seat cushions from the aforementioned big car with them.I don?t know how
the Board dealt with this but obviously they did deal with it.I would hazard a
guess that Clarrie O?Shea,the Victorian Secretary of the Australian Tramway
and Motor Omnibus Employees Association had a hand in it.Clarrie was pretty
much revered by a lot of trammies,he was a charismatic and very impressive
person and a very smart operator.Best regards to all.Peter Bruce.P.S We had a
very enjoyable evening at my place Thursday last week,me,Greg King and
Murph.We
got right off topic,Pittsburgh and San Francisco,good fun.Greg has proposed
Geelong and North Shore next time,can?t wait.
.
.
.
Obfuscation specialist
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free. The text is pasted below.
GAMBLING ON THE BOARDS PREMISES IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED The abovementioned
Board is, of course, the Melbourne & Metropolitan Tramways Board and the sign
above was prominently displayed in the crews messrooms of every depot.At the
time that I joined the Boards employ late in 1966 and indeed throughout the
whole time that I worked for them gambling was rife and the cry ?deal me in?
resounded around the messroom all day.,It was,however,small time,a game called
red aces played for coins,hardly a threat to a families survival. It wasn?t
always thus.The stories told by the old-timers were another thing
altogether.It
seems that the games got so big and so much money changed hands that certain
wives would show up at the depot on payday to make sure that the housekeeping
came out of the paypacket before other scores were settled.Understanderably
the
Board and its Officers got a bit jack of being the meat in the domestic
sandwich and determined to put a stop to ?Gambling on the Boards Premises?.
Not
so easy,the game simply started up again down the shed in a convenient big
car[they had padded seats].Hanna St.Depot,later known as South
Melbourne,ran an
all night service at this time so the poker game never stopped and obviously
the payday dramas continued too.Apart from the these dramas in the revenue
office some blokes weren?t getting home too often and I?d imagine a lot of
cars
were running out or picking up late on account of waiting for someone to
finish
a hand. Management cracked down again and expelled the poker players from the
car shed but as usually happens things got worse before they got better.The
gamblers moved up the hill to the Tramway waiting shed in St.Kilda Road taking
the seat cushions from the aforementioned big car with them.I don?t know how
the Board dealt with this but obviously they did deal with it.I would hazard a
guess that Clarrie O?Shea,the Victorian Secretary of the Australian Tramway
and Motor Omnibus Employees Association had a hand in it.Clarrie was pretty
much revered by a lot of trammies,he was a charismatic and very impressive
person and a very smart operator.Best regards to all.Peter Bruce.P.S We had a
very enjoyable evening at my place Thursday last week,me,Greg King and
Murph.We
got right off topic,Pittsburgh and San Francisco,good fun.Greg has proposed
Geelong and North Shore next time,can?t wait.
.
.
.
Obfuscation specialist
------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
Universal Inkjet Refill Kit $29.95
Refill any ink cartridge for less!
Includes black and color ink.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/r9F0cB/MkNDAA/ySSFAA/DiTxlB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->
Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/