UNCUSTOMED FURS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14133, 7 August 1909, Page 6

UNCUSTOMED FURS.

SHIP'S ENGINEER FINED £12.

[BT TELEGRArH. —OWN" CORRESPONDENT.]

Wellington, Friday. In the Magistrate's Court to-day Mr. W. G. Kiddell, S.M., gave his reserved decision in the case in which the Collector of Customs prosecuted Cecil Houghton, third engineer of the s.s. Manuka, for harbouring uncustomed goods. An information in respect to the same case, had been dismissed yesterday, so a different one was laid.

His Worship stated that defendant had had in his possession a set of furs, valued at £4. He had declared his dutiable goods, but had not included the furs, which, he said, he was taking to Dunedin. He also stated that he had no intention of evading the Customs. The defence was, first, that Houghton did not know that the goods were dutiable, and, secondly, that Dunedin, and not Wellington, was the place where the goods were to be unshipped. To His Worship the former defence did not appear sound. Defendant know perfectly well that the goods were in his possession, and whether they were dutiable or not was a question of lawan old law, with which defendant should have been acquainted. There was, His Worship thought, sufficient knowledge on the part of defendant to bring him under the section of the Act. On the second point raised, His Worship mentioned that the goods were not consigned to a particular port, and it seemed to him that in such a case, where duty was required, it would be due at the first port of call. Defendant must be convicted, and would be fined £12three times the value of the furs, which were ordered to be forfeited. ,