Prohibition Enforcement Costs Three Hundred Lives

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 137, 31 August 1927, Page 1

Prohibition Enforcement Costs Three Hundred Lives

AMERICA’S TASK By Cable. —Press Association. — Copyright. Received 9.5 a.m. WASHINGTON, Tuesday. TREASURY statistics show that the enforcement of Prohibition has now cost nearly 300 lives. Fifty-four agents have been killed on duty by violators of the law, six coastguardsmen have been slain, and 100 other members of the so-called “Dry Navy” have lost their lives by fire, drowning, or explosions aboard small pursuit craft.

Q.OVERNMENT operatives have killed 125 liquor-runners, all on the grounds of self-defence. The Treasury keeps no record of those wounded, but it is estimated that the wounded include several thousand Government agents. It is impossible to estimate the number of liquor-runners injured.—A. and N.Z. BORDER BOOTLEGGERS SMUGGLING CANADIAN LIQUOR

WASHINGTON, Monday. The members of the Royal Cana-

dian Customs Commission conferred to-day with American officials with regard to closer co-operation against smuggling on the border. The commission asked the United States authorities to take steps to keep American bootleggers at home. Attention was drawn to the smuggling of redistilled denatured alcohol into Canada from the United States, from which whisky is made and retailed at a price which is much below that at which the legitimate purveyors can sell. The smuggled product sells in Canada at 5s 3d a gallon, and since the Canadian Government tax on legal whisky is £2 a gallon, the legal traders have made strong complaints of the smuggling.—A. and N.Z.