COAST PATROL.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue LXIX, 21 September 1938, Page 7

COAST PATROL.

TRACKING SMUGGLERS

SEGRET HiDE-CUTS.

GOODS DUMPED OVERBOARD.

CAIRNS (Queensland), Sept. 15

Secret hide-outs among mangroves, fa#t craft slipping out into the steamer channel anc". code signals from ship to shore are among the trick* which the new patrol vessel Vigilant will try to trump in the future. Something must be done, the Customs authorities declare, to put down smuggling off the Queensland coast.

The Vigilant, which is commanded by Captain T. Haultain, has beon assigned to duty between Cooktown and Towneville for a prolonged period.

Practically ell shipping from China. Japan, the East Indies, Xew Guinea and Pacific Islands converges down the narrow channel between the Barrier Reef and the mainland, only a few miles from the shore.

Smuggled goods are dumped overboard in watertight container* attached to drums, which are picked up by small craft operating from base* along the coast.

On several occasions parcels of dutiable or prohibited goods which have been missed by shore smuggler* have been picked up. The lucrative nature of the traffic can be judged from the fact that an average consignment of goods would probably comprise 20,f»00 cigarettes. 200 tine of opium and a quantity of silke. The profit on such a consignment would be approximately £2000. Trailing the Ship*. Frequent reports of the operations of mystery veeeels between Cairn* and Cooktown have been received in the past. Custom* officials recently discovered a secret boat-ettp concealed in dense mangrove swamp on the river north of Cairn*. The Vigilant , * principal task will be to follow steamers from which it is suspected that illicit parcel* are being dropped. Her speedboat, which i« capable of doing 25 miles per hour, will be used to intercept small fast craft operating from ehore base*. In addition, the Vigilant will keep watch on Japanese Sampans, and her echo-sounding device will be used to check up on soundinge of' Barrier Reef water*. Existing charts still use in places the soundings taken by Flinders in his early explorations, and these have not since" been verified.