ILLEGALLY MADE TOBACCO

Wanganui Chronicle, 4 October 1947, Page 6

ILLEGALLY MADE TOBACCO

. AS MAN FINED £lOO (P.A.) Nelson, Oct. 3. For carrying on the business of tobacco manuiacturer at Upper Moutere without a licence, Albert Arthur Lusty was fined £lOO by Mr. Maunsell, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court. Charges of selling 1081bs. to a man in the Gisborne district and lGOlbs. to a man on the West Coast with intent to defraud the Customs Department of duties were later withdrawn. The information was laid by the Collector of Customs. The defendant pleaded guilty. Counsel for the defendant said this type of offence was difficult to prove, and wa§ highly important from a revenue point of view. The duty on tobacco would be Ils 8d per lb. Counsel said that a man in Christchurch was found with 501bs. of uncustomed tobacco, which was traced to a man on the West Coast and then to the defendant. Customs officers an(J the police searched Lusty’s premses, finding various preparations used in the manufacture of tobacco. Among the correspondence found was reference to sales in the Gisborne district. When a man at Gisborne was interviewed it was found he had received a telegram reading: “Disposed of all fruit; expect visitors.” The magistrate: Uninvited guests, I suppose? For the defendant it was stated he made the tobacco for himself in 1945, but, on request, allowed two applicants to have some. The price he received was not much above what it cost him to make.