PROHIBITED OPIUM.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16922, 22 December 1922, Page 6

PROHIBITED OPIUM.

HOW IT ENTERS AUSTRALIA RUSES OF SMUGGLERS. According to the Federal law, one of the things which may not enter Australia is opium, suitable for smoking, and drastic penalties are prescilbed for those caught in possession of the drug (says the Sydney “ Sun ”). Nevertheless, the stuff of which dreams are made comes in freely, quite a regular distributing trade, with Sydney as headquarters, having been built up, and each year thousands of tins slip past the vigilant eyes of the Customs people. Some i« smoked here in the “joints’’ of the city, some goes*to the country, where it is consumed by the hardworking celestials who grow vegetables by day and seek solace in a pipe or two at night, and the rest is sent to other States. There is always a keen demand for opium, and the successful smuggler finds no difficulty in getting rid of it. SUCCESSFUL VENTURES. There was a time once when large sums were made in the- risky business, and when the smuggler who eluded the busy officials counted his profits in thousands. On one occasion two men cleared nearly £4OOO in a single night by the simple process of dashing alongside a China mail-boat which was lying at anchor in the harbour, taking on hoard 400 tins of opium packed in suitcases, and getting away again before the astonished Customs officers could follow in their less speedy launch. That shipment was subsequently landed in the bush near the Spit, brought to Sydney by motor-car, and sold at a gain of slightly under £lO a tin. Equal good fortune attended the bold contrabandists who, right under the nose of Customs, quarantine and ship’s officers, took 300 tins from an Eastern steamer in broad daylight, outside the head, a few- years ago, and later landed it somewhere on the coast, exactly where, the authorities would at the time have given much to know*. The last that was seen of the smugglers’ launch was when it was heading for the entrance to the Hawkesbury River, the darkness of night hiding : t before the police in the district could be warned to look out for it. IN A WOMAN’S PETTICOAT. As might only be expected, women were a considerable thorn in the side of the authorities when smuggling was at its height, and the fame of one woman is still fresh, although she lias been dead halt a dozen years. This lady is reputed to have evaded successfully the Customs watchers on ships m the port scores of times. Dressed with a good deal more of taste than one might expect in one of her type , and speaking in an educated and cultured voice, she would pay a visit to a passenger steamer a few days before it was due to sail, ostensibly for the purpose of inspecting the cabin which she proposed to book on the outward voyage. Frequently she would call first at the company’s offices in the city and secure a pass on board and a letter to the purser asking the latter to show her over the vessel and give her every attention. These she would present to the Customs officer at the gangway, thus completely disarming that official <;f any suspicions that he might entertain regarding her, and once on board the rest was easy. An essential article of her underwear was a- canvas petticoat containing numbers of small pockets into which the opium that she obtained from her confederate on hoard would po. In this manner she hoodwinked the officials for several years, until at last interest was roused by her many visits to different ships, and detection followed by a heavy fine resulted. Afterwards she retired, having amassed a competence. CUSTOMS PEOPLE TRICKED Perhaps one of the most daring ruses on record, was that by means of which a large quantity of the drflfg was got ashore from a tramp steamer moored at a Cremorne Point buoy, five or six years ago. The Customs people knew that there was opium on board, although they had not been able to discover its hiding-place, and further information from a private source having warned them that an attempt would be made to “ lift ,5 it, they were on the alert. Day and night armed watchers patrolled the deck, while a launch

lay alongside the gangway with steam up in readiness for- whatever might happen. Day alter day slipped by with nothing out of the ordinary coming to pass, until at last, somewhere after twelve o’clock, on a moonless night, the. long-awaited attempt was made. One of the watching officers saw a small launch glide out. of the shadows, run in under the steamer’s counter and take on hoard two large parcels that were silently and quickly lowered over the side. With a shout he sprang into the department’s launch at the gangway. the lines wore cast off. and a, moment later the chase was on. Down past Bradley’s Head the two boats went, the oil-driven craft leading by ten or twenty lengths from the slower steamer launch, containing the pursuing officers, and turning up into the darkness of Middle Harbour. Opposite Balmoral Beach the pursued craft slowed down, engine trouble of some sorb having apparently occurred, and the triumphant officials closed in. But their rejoicings diminished considerably when iwas discovered that there was no opium on hoard. SEARCHERS FOUND NOTHING. They searched the prize from bowsprit to propeller without finding as much as a smell of the forbidden stuff. Meanwhile, the three men who formed the crew of the launch protested vociferously against the hold-up. and declared that they had not been near the steamer, and that the Customs’ men had mistaken them for somebody else in the darkness. There was nothing for it hut to release the quarry, although the officials were not satisfied. When they arrived back at the steamer, they learned the exasperating details of the scheme. The first launch was merely a decoy which had drawn them away while the real smugglers had come alongside and taken off an exceptionally large shipment of opium, running, it was afterwards ascertained, to nearlv a thousand tins. BY WAY OF THE NORTH. Nowadays, a good deal of the opium that is smuggled into Australia comes m up in the north, where the facilities for evading the Customs’ guard are much greater than in the south. Schooners and small vessels from the Straits, and the Dutch possessions, bring it, a few tins on some and hundreds on others. Frequently these boats will put into some lonely bay or anchorage on an isolated part of the coast, land tin's portion of thoir cargo, and then continue on their way, nobody at the port which is their destination being any the wiser. Later the stuff is taken by land to the nearest town, and from there shipped down to the south, where an infinitely greater price, with considerably less risk may be obtained. By far the larger number of consumers are to be found in the big country tow ns of the interior, regular deliveries being made to some of these places from the city. In the guise of a commercial traveller, or an insurance agent, the distributor travels from one town to another, supplying the customers who are on his list. All sorts of precautions are adopted, the tra veller being always a .white man in the employment of the Chinese dealer ill the city. Now and again one is caught but not very often, and the rs muneration is so large that somebody else Willing to run the risk is easily found to take his place. ' ' - 4 ," d - so gfme K°es on. and will go on m all probability, until the last u ' ,arr ir n m Australia has passed away. Even after that it will probably continue, for there are plenty of white men who have fallen victims to the drowsy pleasures of the seductive pipe.