MR GAUGER IN NEW SOUTH WALES.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume IX, Issue 681, 26 March 1903, Page 22

MR GAUGER IN NEW SOUTH WALES.

Some excitement was occasioned in a South Coast district during last week (says the Sydney “ Mail ”) when Customs Detective J. Donohoe and some police officers arrested a supposed proprietor of an illicit still. When information was received in Sydney of the existence of the still, Officer Donohoe immediately left for Nowra, and, together with Senior Sergeant Crawley, Constable Reid, and Constable Westtrop, an officer from Berry, proceeded to the mountains between Berry and Kangaroo Valley. They reached a certain farm, and then proceeded to find a track into the depths of a mountain gorge. It was a difficult undertaking. Fortune favoured the officers, however, and a narrow track was discovered. They followed this—down, down, until reaching the bottom. The was really dangerous io strangers, the stillers ” having chosen one of the most precipitous spots in the South Coast. A heavy storm occurred during the time the representatives of the law were making their investigations. Still,, tlw were on a good trail, and followed it up. Success attended their efforts, for, in an almost inaccessible spot, they found, portion of a still. The worm was missing, but there were beautifully clean tubs m readiness, and other gear necessary for the distillation of spirits. No liquor was about, but everything seemed to be in order for business.

An ingenious water service was discovered in connection with the. plant, and it is worth mentioning. Pipes had been made from the trunks of cabbage trees, and the water was carried. by■ means of these innocent-looking ‘ mams along the still. How the liquor was conveyed from the still to the “ surface ” was another question for investigation, but was soon settled, for it seemed an easy matter for one or two men to take tne stuff up the steep mountain track in small quantities'. After further investigation, the officers left the spot and proceeded to arrest a Broger’si Creek resident, who has since bin brought before the Nowra Police Court, and remanded.