OPIUM SMUGGLING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13694, 10 March 1908, Page 6

OPIUM SMUGGLING.

SERIOUS ALLEGATIONS

THE ADELAIDE DISCLOSURES,

[from ot'n own ronr.K.'r'osnr.vr.]

Sydney. .March 4. Is there a gigantic opium smuggling -syndicate at work within the Commonwealth V Ellison, the Port Adelaide tobacconist in whose back garden five tins of the drug were found, declares that there is, and that the system is not only extensive, but well planned. Rut the official attitude toward this story is one of scepticism. When Ellison made his statement to Air. Stephens, the Collector at Port Adelaide, it was immediately telegraphed by .Mr. Stephens to the Controller-General, in Melbourne. Dr. U'ollaeton handed the papers to Mr Lockvcr, the - Controller-General, who is dealing with uit opium questions, and it was decided that the matter should be at once thoroughly t'otignted. That is.where it stands now.

At me same time, the heads o. the Customs Department are disposed to atUtcn but little weight, to Ellison's .-lory, x tie idea that Customs officers could be implicated in a •.system of fraud devised by Sydney importers, as he alleged, they reject as ill the wildest degree improbable. They agree that the statements made by thin man are serious, but as to their being proved true—this, they say, is unthinkable. Mr. Lockyer, who says that Ellison's allegations are still being rigidly inquired into, contends that he lias not implicated the officers of the Department, ami that they have not been implicated beyond a vague aud unsatisfactory statement in the press.

Cm the other hand, some of the official acquainted with the outdoor administration of the Customs Department declare that the revelations at Port Adelaide have excited no surprise in their minds. One officer of long experience, who is skilled in detecting frauds of this kind, .states that the lime is surely coming when there will be a sensation which will put the Adelaide disclosures in the shade. He declares that the Department is lotting large sums of money in the various States of the Commonwealth, and that the total loss in this way amounts, in round numbers, to no less than £100,000 per annum. It is hinted that while there may not be a syndicate in existence, there, are other agencies at work to defeat the Act in a much more unsuspecting and more effective manner. Everyone knows when a big steamer is to arrive, and when the liners reach » certain point near some port] on the Australian coast there is sometimes a "fishing'' party about, looking for a haul, If these " three men in a boat" do not catch fish, they may secure kouio other prize that they value still more, in the shape of a tin or two of opium pushed through the port-hole of the vessel, ami allowed to float about until they can pick it up without being observed. The gain is considered worth the risk, for the price of the drug has gone up 800 per cent.,.it is said. The quantity that in former times could have been procured for 5s cannot now bo bought for less than £2. One thing appears certain, however, that the Port Adelaide story is being inquired into by the proper authorities. Hence, we may hear some important news shortly— we may not.