FINED £25

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 14, 16 July 1931, Page 15

FINED £25

PASSENGER'S SILVER

"A COMMERCIAL VENTURE"

Holding that all tho circumstances pointed to the fact that tho silver was being taken for a commercial venture, Mr. E. Page, S.M., in his reservod decision to-day convicted Ronald Maxwell Stewart of having shipped with intent to export silver coin contrary to Section 47 of tho Customs Act, 1913. Stewart was the passenger whom Customs officers detained when about to sail in the Ulimnroa on Thursday last for Sydney witli Lii-iiSO in silver.

Dealing with the argument put forward by Mr. G, G. G. Watson, counsel for the defendant, Mr. Page said that he thought goods might be exported whether carried away in tho ship's hold, or in its strongrooms, or in the cabin of a passenger, and whether, carried under a consignment noto, or in the personal custody of a member of the crow or of a passenger. He'thought, rather, t,hat the question whether tho Act had'becn infringod depended upon tho nature of the goods and the purpose of .their shipment. ' In this ease the largo amount of silver coin taken, the mannor in which it was packed, the fact that it was not the defendant's own property, and his admission that it had boon taken for the express purpose of making exchange on.it, all pointed to the fact that it was a commercial venture of the very typo prohibited by tho section. ■ After hearing Mr. P. S. K. Macasscy, who prosecuted, and Mr. Watson on the question of penalty, the Magistrate fined'the'defendant £25, tho minimum am.ount. allowed under the Act.