The cover is addressed to Mr. R. Packman, 69 Collins St., Hobart, Tasmania and there was a pair of 2 pink 1d stamps of Victoria postmarked with a roller cancel MELBOURNE/ OCT 15/ 9 PM/ 1907 withVICTORIA enclosed in wavy lines. The reverse was not seen (Figure 1).
The second cover was addressed to Mrs.R. Packman, 69 Collins Street, Hobart, Tasmania and it had a single 1d and an additional ‘TWO PENCE’ stamp of Victoria cancelled LAUNCESTON/ D/ OC 12/ 1907/ TASMANIA. The reverse was not seen (Figure 2).
The second cover was found on p. 137 of David McNamee’s “Catalogue and Handbook of Tattersall’s Covers (2006) and his explanation of the cover was described as follows: Received in Launceston as a Loose Ship Letter and Launceston c.d.s. applied toVictorian stamps there, 3d to pay the 2d single Australian Letter Rate and 1d Loose Letter Fee. This was followed by valuable information about Dick Packman as seen in Figure 3.
The following information was found on a New Zealand Government site of ‘Papers Past – Evening Post– 21 November 1902 – TATTERSALL’S ALLEGED AGENTS, which was headed ‘HEAVY FINES BY THE MAGISTRATE. DECISION APPEALED AGAINST. The following was a description of the legal case: The magistrate “gave his decision on the 2 informations on which Rowland Hill Harrison and Richard Packman were charged with (1) having assisted in the managing or conducting a lottery, (2) having had the care or management of a common gaming house. His worship convicted both the accused on each information. Harrison was fined £50 on each charge, and Packman £25 on each charge; costs £5 8s 6d each; in default of payment forthwith, six months’ imprisonment each”. Their lawyer gave notice that they would appeal. This short paragraph has been extracted from the judge’s opinion of the case which ran for 4 times more information about the case than the above.
The Mercury (Hobart) 7 April 1903, page 3 headlined TATTERSALL’S N.Z. AGENCY. CONVICTION QUASHED. ” The Appeal Curt gave judgment to-day in an appeal by Harrison and Packman, who were convicted under the Gaming Act of managing or conducting a lottery. The defendants had acted as agents for Tattersall’s sweeps, and in giving judgment, the Court said: Appellants were employees of Mr. George Adams, and were appointed by Mr. Harvey, who was Mr. Adams’ agent, who rented a room, in which they carried on their business, and who opened a bank account for Mr. Adams. No tickets were issued by them, and applicants received tickets by post direct.
The Court was of opinion that canvassing for subscribers to a foreign lottery, or receiving money therefore, did neither establish nor commence a lottery in New Zealand, and there was, therefore, no (- -)isting in managing or conducting of a lottery established or commenced in New Zealand.
The Court held that what had been done by the appellants fell short of conducting a lottery in the office mentioned, and so the convictions must be squashed.
The Mercury (Hobart) 25 April 1946, page 7, headlined OBITUARY. Mr. R. Packman. “Mr. Richard Packman whose funeral took place at Cornelian Bay Cemetery yesterday was for 44 years on the staff of Tattersall’s. For many years he was in charge of the prize-paying department, and he retired last year.
Mr. Packman took a keen interest in sport and was a committeeman of the Sandy Bay Swimming Club and Sandy Bay Regatta Association.
He is survived by his wife and a daughter”. A listing of men who attended at the grave-site, from Tattersall’s and the above Associations, was appended.