BARONET’S WIFE FINED.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 4011, 4 August 1931, Page 6

BARONET’S WIFE FINED.

SILK GOODS FROM PARIS. In dealing with a case in which a baronet’s wife was fined for attempted smuggling, Mr Boyd', the Westminster magistrate, recently remarked that, despite the publicity given to such cases, many people of means seemed to think there was not much harm in trying to avoid payment of duty. lie imposed a fine of £370 and £lO 10/- costs on Lady Moon, wife of Sir Arthur W. Graham Moon, for being concerned in an attempted evasion of Customs duties at Victoria Station.

Counsel for the prosecution explained that Lady Moon, accompanied by her husband, arrived from the Continent, and to an officer explaining the excise obligations she stated: “I know all about it. I have nothing to declare.” Dutiable silk goods from Paris were afterwards found in her trunks, and the agreed value of them was £(54. Counsel for the defence urged that Lady Moon was under a wrong impression. She had worn the drosses abroad, and her case was quite different from that of a hardened smuggler.

The magistrate, imposing the penalty, observed that he could not accept the explanation that Lady Moon acted in good faith.