THE DROWSY "DOPE”

Evening Star, Issue 18141, 4 December 1922, Page 10

THE DROWSY "DOPE”

HOW IT EITfEES AUSTRALIA. BUSES o:? SMUGGLERS. According to the Federal law, on® of the things which may not enter Australia is opium suitable tor smoking, and drastic penalties are prescribed for those caught in possession of the drug. Nevertheless, the stuff of ■which dreams are made> comes in freely, quite a regular distributing trade, with Sydney as headquarters, having been built up, and each _ year thousands of tins slip past tho vigilant eyes of the Customs people. Some is smoked hero in tho “joints” of tho city, some goes to the country, where it is consumed bv the hard-working Celestials who grow vegetables by day and seek.-solace in a pipe or two by night, and the rest is sent 'to other Sftates. There is always a keen demand for opium, and the successful finds no difficulty in getting rid of it. There was a ■time onoe. when large sums were made in the risky business, and when tho smuggler who eluded the busy officials counted his profits m thousands, fin one occasion i.wo mem cleared nearly £4 000 in a single night by the simple process ot dashing alongside a. China maillW which was lying at anchor in the hadbor, taking no board 400 tins of opium packed in suit cases. ami getting away ncain before the astonished Customs officers could follow in their less-speedy launch. That shipment was subsequently landed in the. bush near the Spit, brought lo Sydney by motor car, and sold at a gain "of slightly under £lO a fin. Equal irood fortune a’fchcndrd tho "bold contraiban'dis-tas, who, right under the nos® of Customs, quarantine, and ships ■officers, took 300 tins from an Eastern steamer in broad daylight outside tho heads a few years ago, and later landed it somewhere on the coast, exactly where the authorities would at the time ha\o given much to knew. Ihe last that was seen of the smugglers’ launch was when it was heading for the. entrance to _tho TTawkcsburv River, the darkness of night hiding it before the police in the district, could be warned to look out for it. IN A WOMAN’S PETTICOAT. ,\s might only be expected, women were a considerable thorn in the side, of tho authorities when smuggling was at _it<* lieight, and the fame of one woman is still fresh, although she has been dead half a do/.en years. This lady is reputed to have evaded* successfully the Customs watchers cm ships in tho port scores of times. Dressed with a good deal more of taste than one might expect in one of her type, and speaking in an educated and cultured voice, she would pay a visit to a passenger steamer a tow days before it was duo to sail, ostensibly for the purpose of inspecting the cabin which she proposed to hook on the outward voyage. Frequently she would call first at the company s offices in the city, and .secure a pass on board, and a letter to the purser asking the latter to show her over the vessel, and give her every attention. These she would J present to the Customs officer at the gangway. thus completely disarming that! official of any smspicionß that he might | entertain regarding her: and once oil] board the rest wi s easy. An essential article of her underwear was a canvas petticoat containing nunibm of small pockets, into which the opium that she hbtained from her contederate <>u hoard •would go. In this manner she hoodwinked (he officials for w-veral years, nntil_ at last interest was roused by her many visits to different ships, and detection, followed bv a- heavv fine, reunited. Afterwards she retired, having amassed a competence. DI-TOT USED.

Perhaps one of tho must (bring ruses an record was that hy means of which a large quantity of 11 c drug was got ashore ■from a tramp stea i"rr moored at a Creinorne Point buoy live or six years ago. The Customs people knew that there was opium on board, although they had not been able to discover its hiding place, and further information from a. private source having varied them that an attempt would be made to “lift” it, they were on the alert. .Day arid night armed watchers patrolled the deck, while a launch lay alongside the gangway with steam up in readiness for whatever might happen. Day after day slipped by with nothing out of the ordinary coming to pass, until at last, somewhere after 12 o’clock, cat a moonless night, the longawaited attempt was made. One of the watching officers saw a small launch glide out of the shadows, run in under the steamer's counter, and take on board two large parcels that wero silently and quickly lowered l over the side. With a shout he sprang into the department's launch at the gangway, the lines were cast off, and a moment later the chase was on. Down past Bradley's Head the two boats went, the oil-driven craft leading by ten or twenty lengths from the slower steam launch, containing the pursuing officers, and turning up into the darkness of Middle Harbor. Opposite Balmoral Beach the pursued craft slowed down, engine trouble of some sort having apparently occurred, and the triumphant officials dosed in. But their rejoicings diminished 1 considerably when it was discovered that there was no opium on board. They searched the prize from bowsprit to propeller without finding as much as a smell of the forbidden stuff. Meanwhile, the three men who formed the crew of the launch protested vociferously against the hold-up, and declared that they had not been near the steamer, and that the Customs men had mistaken them for somebody else in the darkness. There was nothing for it but to release the (juany, although the officials wero not satisfied. When they arrived back at the steamer they learned the exasperating details of the scheme. The first launch was merely a decoy, which had drawn them away while the real smugglers had come alongside and taken off an exceptionally largo shipment of opium, running, it was afterwards ascertained, to nearly a thousand tins. BY WAY OF THE NORTH. Nowadays a good deal of the opium that is smuggled into Australia comes in up in the north, where the facilities for evading the Customs’ guard are much greater than in the south. Schooners and small vessels from Dm straits and tlio Dutch possessions bring it, a few tins on some and hundreds on others. iTTeqnonDjj these boats will put into some lonely bay or anchorage on an isolated part of the coast, bind this portion of their cargo, and then continue on their way, nobody at the port which is their destination being any the wiser. Later the stuff is taken by land to the nearest town, and from there shipped down'to the south, where an infinitely greater price, with considerably less risk, may bo obtained. By far the larger number of consumers see to be found in the big country towns of the interior, regular deliveries being made to some of ilieso places from the ;ity. In the guise cf a commercial traveller or an insurance agent, the distributor travels from one town to another, supplying the customers who are on his list, AH iort« of precautions .ire adopted, the traveller being always a white man in the employment of the Chinese dealer in the city. Now and again on® is caught, hut not very often, and the remuneration is so large that somebody else willing to run \he risk is easily found) to take his place. And so the game goes on, and wifi go Hi in all probability until the last Ohinanan in Australia has passed away. Even »ft*r that it will probably continue, for .there are plenty of white men who have fallen victims to the drowsy pleasures of ilia seductive pipe.