LADY SMUGGLER'S AMUSING ADVENTURE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14017, 24 March 1909, Page 9

LADY SMUGGLER'S AMUSING ADVENTURE.

: _~..: '; ♦ — : ■' V Customs officials at an English coast port arc discussing with much amusement tho smuggling adventure of a lady of American birth who lives in that country.' Possibly her adventure was prompted, by successes in similar cases when passing the New York Customs. Tho lady was returning to England from one of the Swiss wintor resorts, where she had bought a parcel of valuable lace. This, if conveyed to London with no further outlay, represented a,great bargain. She calculated that if she packed it in her trunk the chances of escaping detection were extremely small, so before leaving Franco she swathed herself about the waist with the embroidery, and embarked in tho steamer, feeling decidedly uncomfortable, and trusting fervently that the passage would be made inside scheduled time. Tho present popular style of dress, however, does not readily, lend itself to these conditions of transport. The initial discomfort had grown into positive pain before the vessel got under way. The lady found the torture unendurable except when maintaining an upright posture. To make matters worse, the vessel ran into a fog, which necessitated steaming at half-speed. It was tho reverse of comforting to overhear the conversation of two fellow-passengers, one of whom was affirming from experience that the penalty in a detected case of smuggling was three times the value and duty relating to the goods. > Visions of departing pinmoney rose before her eyes, and she paced the deck a bundle of mental and physical agony How she ultimately disembarked and satisfied the revenue challenge she scarcely knows,' but when she reached her hotel and had divested herself of hor spoils she was in a state bordering on collapse. But success was hers. She had run the Customs' gauntlet, and the exciting details promised to combine in a thrilling story for the . delectation of her friends. Only once was the story unfolded as stirring drama. It was transformed into roaring comedy when i a member of her first audience, tendered \the information that England has levied no duty on lace for about half a century. ,