SMUGGLING FOOD INTO GERMANY

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 148, 12 March 1918, Page 8

SMUGGLING FOOD INTO GERMANY

TRAFFIC ON LAKE CONSTANCE

(By J. 0. Segrne, in the "Dail. Mews.")

The Swiss Government has just handed over six additional motor-boats to tho Customs officials whose difficult and dangerous work it is 1o hunt down the (.ierman smugglers upon Lake Constance. Smuggling along the Swiss frontier has never reached very alarming proportions, and thonks to the severe measures to cope with it in force it is now on the decline. Just as at the Swiss inland centres the police regard every German as a, likely spy, , so at tho frontier the Swiss Customs authorities take for granted tho homegoing German is a smuggler. A great deal of ingenuity is displayed in the attempts made to deceive the Customs officials. Few German musicians returning home, from the brilliant violinist , down to the man who plays the trombone, can resist tho temptation to conceal foodstuffs in their instruments. The case of the Munich Court Orchestra, is classic in this respect. The orchestra, which counts over 90 members, jauntily presented itself at the frontier after a triumphant tour through Switzerland, in the belief the Customs examination would be a mere formality. The officials th/mght otherwise; with the result that in the recesses of tho instruments and in the luggage 210 pounds of sausages, 96 pounds of lard, nine "sides" of bacon, three hams, some tea, some butter, and a large quantity of eggs were discovered. The food, in spite of pleadings, arguments, and menaces, was promptly confiscated.

The suspicion has reached a certain* ty that the German diplomatic agents smuggle foodstuffs across the frontier to frieuds or families in the Father* land; but international custom forbids the examination by the Cuetoms officials of the diplomatic valises. The smuggling carried „on by authorised German agents constitutes a more serious affair, alike for the Allies, less than ever disinclined to see the blockade weapon blunted, and for the Swiss, whose food situation is sufficiently critical at present. The rationing regulations and the restrictions concerning tho sale and accumulation of food ha a happily led to a diminution in the smuggling conducted under German official auspices. The lines on which tho official contraband organisers worked before tho introduction of the regulations in question were extremely simple. German agents, mainly commercial travellers who know Switzerland well, travelled through the country from Baslo to Lugano, i'rom St. Gall to Geneva, buying all the foodstuffs and raw materials possible at fancy prices, and forwarding them, when bought, to storage depots at Berne or Zurich.

Tho stocks thus accumulated were kept at the' depots until a suitable opportunity arose- of rushing them across the frontier in high-speed motor-cars, or, if the Lake of Constauce were selected as the spot for the transfer, in motor-boats.

At present smuggling is practically confined to Lake. Constance. Tho Swiss shore of the lake, in parts extremely desolate, is difficult to patrol; and at an appointed spot at an appointed hour tho transfer of the _ smuggled goods from motor-car to waiting motorboat may bo effected without much foar of detection. Tlio German crews who man these boats are picked men belonging to the Navy. Exciting night chases frequently occur on tho lake. Sometimes the pursuing Swiss boat overtakes the scurrying smugglers when there are oaths muttered by guttural German voices, struggles, captures, seizures of contraband; or sometimes the pursuer is completely outdistanced. When the escaped boat makes in the direction of Friedrichshaven the Swiss officials know tho smugglers are carrying a freight for the great airship factory which Count Zeppeliu established there.