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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLIII, Issue XLIII, 21 September 1909, Page 4

Opium in machinery was recently shipped from Hongkong to Manila (says a report from Port Darwin). It arrived secreted in nine pieces of machinery. An examination Tevealed that the drug was secreted in machinery expressly made for the purpose of smuggling, and not for the ordinary purposes to which ma-jj chinery is put. Nine pieces consisted^ of four steel shafts, four cast-iron, columns, and one band winch. The shafts were 14ft long and provided at each end with steel. The opium inside the ' shafts measured 4in. in diameter, and were the exact size of the opium tins. Collars screwed on at the ends effectively concealed anything that' might be placed inside the hollow tube, and owing to the great weight of the shafts them- j selves the presence of anything concealed inside would not be suspected. Opium to the value of many thousands of dollars, and also a great quantity of cocaine, was discovered inside these specially constructed pieces. The investigation now proceeding into the matter will ,it is reported, implicate several well-known business men in a gigantic smuggling scheme.