SMUGGLING OPIUM

Dominion, Volume 17, Issue 290, 24 August 1923, Page 5

SMUGGLING OPIUM

SEAMAN TAUGHT A LESSON FINE OF £6O INFLICTED Expressing doubt as to the truth of the expanation offered him, Mr. E. Rage, S.M., yesterday imposed a fine of £6O on a seaman named John Bain, who came before him in the Magistrate’s Court on a charge of smuggling a quantity of opium into New Zealand. Mr. E. T. W. MacLaurin appeared for the Customs Department, and Mr. A. B. Sievwright represented the accused. The detection of the smuggled goods was .described by a Customs officer, Charles Galley, who said that he met the accused, a seaman on the Ulimaroa., on the Glasgow Wharf at about 6.30 p.m. on Wednesday. Interrogated regarding a parcel he was carrying, the man declared that its contents were only newspapers, and although that statement was found to be correct a protuberance in a pocket of tho seaman’s overcoat added to the officer’s suspicions. Investigating further, he found that the pocket concealed a brown leather purse containing a quantity of opium. Mr. Sievw-right: And did ho not tell you -how the book came into his possession ?

Witness: Ho said he got it from a man on board who had asked him to take it ashore. He gave you a description of that man? —“No, he refused to.” His Worship: What quantity was in the parcel?

Witness: Three tins. His 'Worship: And what is the value ?

Mr. MacLaurin said that the estimated value—£T 10s. per tin—was extremely low. “They would get about £2O a tin here,” he added. Mr. Sievwright said that tho accused had merely been asked by another man to take the book ashore. He had had no idea whatever of the contents, and he seemed to have been an innocent victim of someone else.

“I will have to impose a substantial fine,” said His Worship. “The story about' bringing the book ashore does not seem to ring true. The accused will be fined £60.”

An application for time to pay was refused. “If the man has the money,” said the Magistrate, “I will be glad to see it. Otherwise' tho law will have to take its course. In default of payment there will be two months’ imprisonment.”