MODERN SMUGGLERS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9214, 18 April 1908, Page 3

MODERN SMUGGLERS.

Smuggling had, I imagined (says a contributor to " The Gentlewoman "), gone out of fashion ; but it seems that I was wrong. There are wonderful stories told of ladies in the crinoline days who stowed away silks and laceu under the cover of their hoops, and one great Victorian lady, I remember, wrapped yards and yards of priceless point d' Alencon round her pet dog, and then covered him over with a false skin, and thus triumphantly evaded the Customhouse officials. There are but few travellers in this matter-of-fact twentieth century who go in for smuggling adventures, but they do exist. Mrs Patrick Campbell set all New York a-laughing when she took over her tiny yellow griffon, a creature that you could stow away in your muff, and innocently assured the Customhouse people that it was not & dog, but a canary. I believe Bhe got her way that time, and that " Pinky Ponky Poo " somehow squeezed himself into America without having to pay duty. But when she crossed the herring pond a second time, " Your dog, madam 1" said the head official sternly. "Call that a dogP" cried Mrs Campbell with the same unabashed innocence an on the previous occasion. But this time " Pinky Ponky Poo " had to endure the tedium of quarantine.

Another lady, who is even still more cunning, dressed up her toy Pomeranian as a baby, and drew a thick veil of embroidered lace over his face and baby bonnet. She got herself up as a nurse, and pressing him to her bosom (he luckily didn't bark for once) managed to get right there. Then there was a bogus clergyman with a bogus Bible. The Bible contained thousands of pounds worth of diamonds, and the man got through. But not quite. As the clergyman walked jauntily down the gangway, his foot slipped. The Bible fell from his hand, struck sharply against a nail, and, hey presto I it flew open, scattering diamonds all over the place.