HOW SMUGGLING BEGAN

Hokitika Guardian, 21 February 1924, Page 4

HOW SMUGGLING BEGAN

LONDON. January I. The i>icr l lre-si|ue story of contraband is very cute) la in ingly toll by Lord Teignmouth and Air Charles 0. Harper in “The Smugglers." Many old prim- and picture-, a'■company the authors' lively de-u ripimi- •. which are supported by "sm-re! ami eonlh!- iital documents of ihe eighteenth century phn.'.-d at lord Teigiimout disposal by tlm Admirably un i since de-i inyeil. The earliest < onllicis between .-muggier-; and Dm Dm ermnen I w. '<• a,.■;< rev,a.: m,| v.ilh mwdi-m the high Cii-mm.. dale- ... .ii!-. t.-a. hoes, and tobacco out a ID, Dm State- churl t,, pi'iu mii l ime .h ..•,i in ihe li.’.e----i, 1 - ~: , : • v. lade,■ 1 1 y I rum being t. uu, of Dm kingdom. A t this pel iud t KiSs) ('alai.- - limn lost lo England -alone imported uithin IV. ; yen 1 s U!.(HM peeks of wool from Kem and Sns--e.\ ; mid the I Lunacy .Marsh men not only sold iheir own wool in their illii-t maoimr. hul bought otln-r wool from lip-count rv. ten or twenty mile; inland, and impudently shipped it off. When the i'oieign demand her our wool fell oil' Dm -muggiers turned Emir atteid h,n to import.-'. At about the- time il v. a . e-.timalod by reliable authorities that' j'.IIOII.II'IHIh ol tea aero -mngl into the country annually: wliile the actual sales of the Ka--t India Company. which enjoyed a moiioply, amounted under wOOT--00011.. The .-inagglt-rs of Kent and Su-s-cx «ere "by far the mu-1 uunddahle of all ihe Dree trader..’ in England, and Her.- not ea-ilv to he supnre -ed. There was mi end to tin da; mg of til:' "!ree traders.” On October 7, 17 17. fit) armed smuggler-. broke into the Cu-Unm I lon.a--at I’iiDs and carried an ay upward- of l.fCdlh. weiglii el lea. lately seized by !he ii t, privateer. Laier in the year ihe gaol at .Maidstone was broken open in Dm evening by -'twaive persons armed and disguised” who Hounded the gaolers am] I'e-eiled lour notorious smugglers. As late a - 1823 a ''determined and blood-stained si niggle” look place at Bo peep. I Cl«eel’ I lasting-, and Ih'Xhili. Tiie .smuggle, > dren up in a regular line lorina; ion. anil a desperate light re -lilted. Tlm smuggle: , fought wills seeh do ie rin ina tion and roiirage that the I Him ha de uni! v. ri e repn I -e,! and oil u <,'urrtei'mn-,!or Colliu-. v. a - killed. 11l Die lii'st \ol lev Id-id by D:e ID,, chad ■an old . m wilder emd mi I Inn- !. has killed : in , Ldv wa . found lie.-:t lie niing v, it h hi:: ‘'l,:u ' ’ -1 ill gra .p,., | ill It is hand. the stout stun aJmo-i .hacked to piece., by the eutlam-es and bayonets of the Blockade na n. The -I at” was tlm slot;! oak staff, about, oft long, which the : migedew (~ -re d. Iks t rum-ally the ;i;:u r rases, the I'* nr, of Dm m'trsry imetDc A Dus-ex pa!' .on vim. to 1:1 . r.:ot.a paiaphlel again- i sin m.ygii it .-ay-: i was urn,, a-iod by an inheddinn! ef a. village eea , t! e ■ r;t v It, lln r I Dw:: ; !;! there v:;t:. any harm in smuggling. Ft on my replying; Dta.t I iuD only (houghi, there was a great dead of barm in il hut a great dead of gin, he exclaimed. ‘'Then Die Lord have mere;, upon the county of Di-for who is there (Inti has mil had a tub (~T So unpopular was |he coast blockade that, 'when it, warn broken no in I'.'i! the newly formed ('oast guardmeti. ’'o!heers and men alike found the greatest ditTieultv in o'daitiine, lodgLhai i wliv the earliest , latious of Em Con -1 guard were formed ebb-fly out ol old hul!:-- and other ye-selx eondmenod lor sea-going inirpo-es.