CHINESE HOUSE RAIDED

Otago Witness, Issue 4057, 15 December 1931, Page 34

CHINESE HOUSE RAIDED

OPIUM SMOKING SUSPECTED PLACE HEAVILY BARRICADED. WELLINGTON, December 9. Heavily barricaded doors and windows greeted a posse of police which raided premises occupied by Chinese in Haining street this afternoon. After endeavouring to force an entry with crowbars and other implements for over half an hour, the police ultimately opened a door at the back of the house, and seized a considerable quantity of opium, together with a large quantity of the paraphernalia used for the smoking of the drug. Eight Chinese were placed under arrest, and will appear before the Police Court to-morrow morning.

Suspicion that there was opium sniokin<r going on in the vicinity was first aroused by a constable noticing the unmistakable odour of the drug while passing through Haining street in the course of his beat early in the afternoon. He lost no time in reporting the matter to headquarters, and within half an hour Senior Sergeant Scott, Sergeant O'Donnell, and a number of constables were endeavouring to force an entry to the premises, but the presence of stout pieces of wood clamped together with solid brackets of iron, which were securely placed over the doors, prevented an entry being gained for half an hour. In the meanwhile the news that an ■‘opium raid” was in progress spread rapidly, and before very long there was a crowd gathered in Haining street estimated at between 500 and 600 persons. There was little to see, however, except the efforts of the police in attempting to break down the barricades with their crowbars. The Chinese had taken elaborate precautions against any surprise raid, and their substantial batons across the windows and doors sturdily

withstood all the efforts of the police for over half an hour. At last a door was opened, and the police walked in. It was obvious during the time that they were trying to gain an entry that the Chinese inside —eight of them —had been making frantic efforts to dispose of as much of the opium as possible. Soon after the police arrived the crowd assembled in the street could see from the fact that smoke was issuing from a chimney that a fire had been lit inside, and it is presumed that much of the drug had been burned. It is also suggested that some of the unprepared opium, which is very similar to treacle to look at, was poured down the sink. The police, nevertheless, seized a considerable quantity of opium in jars and tins in various parts of the house, and also a number of empty tins with traces of the drug in them. It is reckoned that the total value of the opium in the house must have been very high indeed, when it is considered that Chinese willingly pay at least £lO an ounce for it. It is not thought that the opium in the house came across from Australia by the Marama on Tuesday, but had been in the country for some time previously. A large assortment of appliances for opium-smoking were also found, such as pipes and other paraphernalia.

SUBSTANTIAL FINES IMPOSED. WELLINGTON, December 10. Arising out of the raid eight Chinese were fined a total of £235 to-day. Ngh Pong, the occupier, was fined £lOO for allowing his premises to be used for opium smoking and £25 for having prepared opium in his possession. those found on the premises were fined £l5 each. The default was fixed at three months in the case of Ngh Pong and one month in the case of the others with no time to pay. A ninth Chinese, Ah Joe, was convicted on a barge of giving a bribe of £5 to Senior Sergeant Scott and Constable Hodge to induce them to. forego their duty and was fined £5, in default 21 days. The £5 given to the police was ordered to be paid to the Wellington Hospital.