Mad Rush With Banned Food To Yugoslav Ship

Chronicle (Levin), 21 January 1949, Page 7

Mad Rush With Banned Food To Yugoslav Ship

AUCKLAND, Jan. 20. Quantities of foodstuffs were being loaded aboard tlie Yugoslav Government ship Partizanka at Western Wharf to-. day, contrary to the law. No permits have heen granted for the export of any f podstufl's except reasonahle quantities of ship's stores. Despite thiS the ' ship for two days has heen taking in hundreds of cases some of which coritain foodstutfs. On behalf of the Customs Department it was stated that the 'Auckland braneh did not have the stait to examine , thoroughly the goods -loaded in the Partizanka and no complaint had been , made to it that any of the cargo was illegal. ' ' Any thing . we detect wiil be stopped. We are trying to do our best to carry out the work^ of the department. " Because most of the goods were being sliipped in cases it was not possiblq to detect the eontents without a full examination. The New Zealand Customs Department did not norma !Jy demand that all cases of exports should be opencd. Consignees' declarations of their eontents were normally accepted. To open every case expor.ted would ereate a cha'otic situation. Later this afternoon about 50 per cent. of the consignments were being searched by eight Customs officiais and flour, sugar, lard and other food was withheld from the vessel. Sugar poured out when a case weighing ahout 3001b tell from a loading sling and shattered. Customs men were searching as best they could the cases already in the ship's hold. The evidence is overwhelming that uiany cases loaded in the ship contained tea, sugar, flour and other foodstuiTs for which no export permits had' been obtained. Their export is illegal. Not oue of the cases now in the Partizanka was, so far as is known, opened by or for the Customs before it was loaded. Before the ship's arrival in New Zealand, the Yugoslavs combed the country districts from Auckland ' in tlie uorth and down to the Waikato, for tea, sugar and flour in such quantities tha.t .

it" could not possibly be pretended they were for their own consumption. .An approach had been made to merchants for supplies and they were even asked to case flour and sugar for delivery to certain addresses in Auckland. This request was refused. "There has "been a mad rush right down ',to Hamilton to gjet flour, sugar and tea and other foodstuffs to be packe'd in cases marked clothing," said one supplier. "This was for Yugoslav customers who have heen arriving at merchants' doors with orders from retailers asking for delivery to bearer of flour, sugar, tea, etc. . When suppiied these goods have been taken away in private cars or trucks. Withdrawals oi flour in one iiistance at least became so heavy, that two days ago the wheat commiitee, exercising its authority, stopped orders which it considered excessive. Case after case for the Partizanka, consigned from as far away as the King Country, reached Western Wharf this week by all modes of transport. Tally clerks collected freight on delivery into the shed. There was such- a queue of trucks on Tuesday that drivers Avaited long periods, in one case for 12 hours, and in some instances delivery could not be .effeeted .until today. Loading was carried on vigorously this morning after yesterday's 'holiday. Some Dalmation volunteers, big husky men who set a solid pace, have been assisting watersiders. Though knowing the circumstances which were connected with the loading of the Radnik about a year ago, the Government did not issue special instructions to Customs officers to tighten inspection with the "Partizanka. Just prior to the arrival of this vessel, numbers of Yugoslavs in Auckland applied for' and obtained permits to export used- clothing but not foodstufl's. No authority was givcn for the export oi these beyond the ordinary requircmeiits of the ship's stores under providoriug arrangements.