OPIUM RAID SEQUEL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21279, 5 September 1932, Page 13

OPIUM RAID SEQUEL

CHINESE IN COURT PROPRIETOR FINED £SO MINIMUM PENALTY FOR CLIENTS As a result of a raid carried out on premises at 55 Grey's Avenue, by Detectives Nalder and McWhirter on Friday afternoon, 19 Chinese appeared before Mr, F. K. Hunt, S.M., in the Police Court on Saturday morning. Ah Jim, aged 33, pleaded guilty to a charge of permitting his premises to be used for opium smoking and was fined £SO, in default three months' imprisonment. Fines of £l2 10s, the minimum penalty provided by tho Act, wore imposed on the 18 Chinese who wero fouii'd on the premises. Dealing with' tho charge against Ah Jim, Detective-Sergeant T Kelly said the premises had been raided only a short time previously, when detectives had had to obtain entrance through the roof. On the occasion of the latest raid tho detectives made a sudden entry when the door was opened to admit a Chinese. Many of the men found on the premises were under the influence of opium and did not know they were being arrested. In rooms upstairs tho detectives found a glass jar containing about 4oz. of opium, a number of small packets of opium prepared for smoking, together with scales, bowls and pipes all used in tho smoking of opium. " These premises havo been used exclusively as an opium den for a number of years," Mr. Kelly said. " They have been extensively barricaded and are practically impregnable under normal circumstances. However, tho proprietor of the building has now come forward and it is securely padlocked. The Chinese will not be able to use it in the future."

In entering pleas of guilty on behalf of six Chinese charged with being found on the premisos, counsel said it had to be remembered that Chinese were likely to uso such a place as a common meeting ground and would walk into it just as Europeans would walk into a hotel to meet friends. The magistrate Baid the accused were in the same position as Europeans found in a gambling saloon. They knew opium smoking establishments were illegal, and if they were found there they would have to take the consequences. Each of the six accused was fined £l2 10s, in default two months' imprisonment. Similar penalties were imposed on nine others who pleaded guilty. With regard to three men who pleaded not guilty, Detective Nalder said that | two had been found under tho influence of opium, and, although the third had been found in the outer room, his boots were discovered in tho inner smoking room. All three mon were fined £l2 10s, in default two months' imprisonment. When mention wa3 made of tho advisability of granting the accused time in which to pay their fines, Mr. Kelly said several of them had been convicted previously, according to finger-print evidence, but were now appearing under changed names. Considerable difficulty had been experienced in tho past when convicted Chinese had been allowed timo to pay. The magistrate said timo for payment of fines would be allowed only in cases where responsible guarantors were forthcoming.