HAINING STREET RAID

Evening Post, Issue 11, 13 July 1936, Page 4

HAINING STREET RAID

OPIUM DEN

NINETEEN ARRESTS

£425 IN FINES

At. 7.15 o'clock last night a squad of four constables under Senior-Ser-i;oiiiit D. .T. O'Neill, of Mount Cook Police Station, raided premises at No. I Hniniiu; Street, described as an opium-smoking den. Knowing that the building was barricaded, with the exception o£ one window on the second storey at Iho rear, two constables climbed on to a lean-to and scrambled through the window. They found the air inside recking with opium, and a number of slush lamps burning in two of the rooms. The constables opened the door below, other members of the squad entered, and nineteen Chinese were arrested. Today the nineteen men appeared in the Magistrate's Court before Mr. W. F. Stilwell, S.M., charged with different offences in connection with opium-smoking and fines totalling £425 were imposed. Two of the defendants, Yip Lim and Joe Tong Ling, for whom Mr. A. B. Sievwright appeared, pleatfeel not guilty to the charge of being found without lawful excuse on premises used for the purpose of smoking opium. They were both convicted. Senior-Sergeant J. Dempsey, who prosecuted, said that when the constables who had climbed through the rear window had let the other members of the raiding party into the premises, considerable evidence of opimn smoking was found. The air was thick with fumes and in an upstairs room six slush lamps were burning, and three opium stems, six bulbs, and a number of trays were found. In the other room upstairs there was another slush lamp alight. The place was bare of furniture and in the two rooms there were 16 pillows used as headrests. There were found also, a set of scales for weighing opium, and two jars of prepared opium, one being on a raised platform by one of the lamps. The doors and windows were barricaded with the exception of the window through which the constable had gained admission. The'same premises had been raided from time to time in the past. * A considerable quantity of opiumsmoking apparatus was produced to I the Court- . • ■ Senior-Sergeant Dempsey-began to read the lists of previous convictions of the defendants, but Mr. Stilwell asked that the lists be handed in en bloc, and reserved the question of fines until the two defended cases were dealt with. POLICE EVIDENCE. Sergeant E. W. Straff on gave evidence of the raid. One of the accused, wEo had ple^led not guilty, a very old man, Joe Tong Sing, had thrown away six packets of opium "seconds" when being questioned. There was no bed in the place, and there were only three blankets. Constable F. Thompson gave evidence of having climbed through the upper windows, and of finding lamps, pipes, and opium-containers about the rooms. Mi-. Sievwright said that one of the defendants, Joe Tong Sing,, who had pleaded not guilty,, was a man of 75 who was destitute and in bad health. He had fainted twice since his arrest last night, once at the': police station, and in the room at the rear of the court. .The other ;defe'ndant Yip Sim, was the old man's, nephew and- had arrived at the house to take the old man. to hospital, only a few minutes before the police got there. Yip Sim gave evidence through an interpreter. Senior-Sergeant Dempsey (to the interpreter): Ask Yip Sim whether he does riot speak perfect English? Mr. Stilwell: You need not bother; he understands all right! ; Senior-Sergeant Dempsey suggested that the old man's fainting .was due to his having the opium supply cut off. "Not at all," was the reply! At the conclusion of the evidence, Mr. Stilwell. said briefly, "I don't believe the evidence and I am going to convict the two." THE PENALTIES. Mr. Stilwell retired to consider the amount of the various penalties, and on his return imposed fines, in each case, with costs:— Ah Sue, for being'the occupier of premises which he permitted to be used for the purpose of smoking opium, was fined £100, in default three months' imprisonment., For having prepared opium in,their possession, Tin Sen, Nang You, and Ah Young were each fined £30. For being found without lawful excuse on premises used for the purpose of opium-smoking, Ah Fun was fined' £30, All Chin and Bing Sing £20 each, Sue Sic, Ah Bing, Ah Low, Ah Sun, Yip Lim, and Sing Young £15 each, and Sue Toy, Joe Tong Sing Nang Ting, and Jone See £12 10s each. For the same offence Sunney Sue, de-. scribed as a gaming-house keeper was also fined £12 10s.

The nineteen defendants were ordered to pay equally the interpreter's fee of 21s. ' .