THE OPIUM LAWS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 48, 26 February 1914, Page 8

THE OPIUM LAWS.

A NEW PLYMOUTH CASE. j A case of considerable interest tO| chemists was heard in the Magistrate s Court, New Plymouth, on Tuesday,; when Thomas Hood, of New Plymouth, chemist, was charged before Mr A.j Crooke, S.M., with, firstly, having! failed to keep a retailer's opium-book! with records of the sales, and, second- j ly, with having failed to keep a record j of the stock of opium which he had on ; hand. I Mr J. H. Hempton, Collector of j Customs at New Plymouth, prosecuted, and Mr 1). Hutchen appeared for the defendant. Mr Hutchen, on behalf of his client, j pleaded guilty to the first charge, and j not guilty to the second. He stated, that his client was ignorant of the! regulations regarding the sale oh opium, which were not in force when he commenced business in New Plymouth, about the middle of 1912. He had not been informed of the regulations covering the sale of opium until September, when the Customs officers visited his premises in connection with the present charges. Mr Hempton said he would call evidence to show that defendant had used 721bs of tincture of opium in ten months, whereas at the most about 101 bs should have been sufficient. William O'Meara, formerly of the New Plymouth Customs Office, deposed I that he made the insepction of defendant's premises. He found no book j was being kept on the first visit. On j the second occasion no satisfactory particulars of the disposal of the opium were given. Hood said he had •-old about 201bs to one man in Gisborne, and that the other 521bs had been used in cough mixtures. The largest amount used by any firm, with one exception (who was prosecuted), between here and Hawera, was lOlbs in 12 months. About slbs of opium suitable for smoking could be extracted from the 721 bs of tincture of opium. Alfred Ernest Sykes, duly-qualified chemist, practising in New Plymouth, said that on an average he used under lib a month of tincture in his business. He thought it would be impossible to

uso 721bs in ten months in dispensing. To His Worship: The Pharmacy Board, through the medium of The Chemist and Druggist, notified all chemists of the passing of the regulations. He thought all chemists understood that the books had to be kept. Defendant gave evidence in support of his counsel's contentions, stating that the opium was largely used in veterinary prescriptions and cough medicine. His Worship remarked that defendant had admitted ignorance of the regulations. The sale of an undue quantity of tincture of opium was suspicious, but on the other hand there was no evidence to show that defendant knew he had to keep a record book. On the first charge defendant was convicted and lined £2, and on the second charge a conviction without penalty would be entered. Costs amounting to lis, and witnesses' expenses (j'S 2s, wore allowed the Department. —"News."