VICE TRADE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 162, 11 July 1930, Page 7

VICE TRADE.

SELLING HUMAN BEINGS. RAIDS IN PARIS. NEW ZEALAND WOMAN GANG LEADER. Following on the arrest of a woman and four men in Paris, amazing disclosures are made regarding the ramifications of the traffic in young girls for the vice markets of the world (says the Paris correspondent of the "Sydney Sun"). It is alleged that the "Trust" with which tliis woman was associated was responsible for supplying the Australian and New Zealand market. The woman arrested is aged 33, and, though she claims to be a native of Lancashire, the police say that she came to France from Auckland (ISiew Zealand), eight years ago, and was then ill possession of a passport "issued in Sydney a year before. She then described herself'as Australian by birth and marriage, and it is alleged that it is only lately, ""when she found it useful for carrying on her work of recruiting from the ranks of Lancashire dancing givls on the Continent, that she discovered ehe was of Lancashire origin. Faked Passports, The books of the accused woman, seized at her lavishly-furnished chateau, show that she was recruiting agent for dens of infamy in all parts of the world, and she has kept records of transactions with clients in different parts of the Australian continent. The woman had established a factory for the making of false passports and other papers to make it possible for her to carry on the trade of exporting young girls to Australia, New Zealand, South America, Canada, and South Africa.'She arranged for the girls to be accompanied to ports of embarkation by male and female agents who had papers establishing kinship with the victims. Agents posing as relatives or even as religious workers interested in the welfare of young girls, were ready to receive the victims on arrival.

Aristocrats at £40. Among the papers seized is the current price list of this vile traffic, from which it aeems that the highest market price is paid for English girls. The rates quoted are from £120 to £150 for English girls, with the French coming next, at rates ranging from £100 to £110. Russians are among the cheapest, the best and most attractive types from this country seldom fetching more than £40. The woman makes the terrible disclosure that since the effects of the revolution began to be felt among the exiled Russian aristocrats, there is a glut on the market of these women ready to sell themselves. Arrest of 400 Agents. The police allege that this woman also provided mistresses for foreigners visiting Paris and charge fees running to £1000. She received a fee of £5000 for providing an English victim for a Royal personage. It is also alleged that her agents made a point of looking up her clients on their return home and blackmailing them over incidents associated with their European trip. Following on the arrests in Paris, information was cabled to the police in the Argentine that resulted in a number of raids and the arrest of over. 400 agents of the gang. It is stated by the police that this woman was living at the rate of £5000 a year in her chateau and that she has two luxurious cars and large investments, besides a great deal of costly jewellery. When she first landed in France, she was seeking employment as a stenographer.