CHINESE FINED £125

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 20, 24 July 1945, Page 7

CHINESE FINED £125

SMUGGLING OF OPIUM

P.A. AUCKLAND, July 23. One of the biggest hauls of opium ever made in Auckland was effected by a Customs officer when he accosted a Chinese employed as a cook on an overseas ship leaving the central wharf this morning. In the Magistrate's Court later Shung Hang Fook admitted before Mr. Goodall, S.M.. a charge of unlawfully importing into New Zealand five pounds of prepared opium. Px-osecuting for the Collector of Customs, Mr. G. S. R. Meredith said that when Fook was accosted he refused to allow the .Customs officer to search him and offered a bribe of £ 100. When he was searched five pounds of opium was found. Counsel added that this was by far the biggest amount of opium found in Auckland for many years. In accused's cabin a further three pounds was found, but this was not the subject of any charge. The Magistrate imposed a fine of £125, in default two months' gaol.

AUCKLAND, July 23

The Netherlands Davis Cup player Van Swo beat Sidwell, the. English player, 6-2, 6-1, states a Press Association cablegram from Rotterdam. Pursuant to the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act and the Economic Stabilisation Emergency Regulations, wages have been increased in the Onehunga, New Plymouth, Patea, Wanganui, Gisborne, Napier, Wellington, Nelson, Greymouth, Lyttelton, and Port Chalmers Dock Labourers Award, and the Wellington and Taranaki Tailors and Tailoresses' award.