OPIUM DEPOT

Hokitika Guardian, 2 August 1932, Page 8

OPIUM DEPOT

AUSTRALIAN THEORY. NEW ZEALAND SUPPLIES. BRISBANE, July 20. That Australia may be in use as a “depot” for the distribution, of ;qpium in New Zealand is the suggestion oj the Chief Cokeotor of Customs (Mr M. J. Nnughton). New Zealand’s opium supply must come either from Australia, America, or England—possibly all three........ , , , A message from Auckland stated that the opipion menace is becoming grave in Ne\y 'Zealand, and on numerous occasioiv;! the police have had to fpree their:?way ~mto heavily guarded, ai 'Chinese opium dene, and have' . seized large quantities of opium. The traffic is despite the relentless war waged hy police and Customs officials-. The bylk of the opium comes from Australia, states the telegram from Auckland, often by the regular steamers, and renewed efforts, are being made to stop the importations. • “There are no direct ships from Brisbane to New Zealand,” said Mr Naughton. ., tjlte. opium must;,be from Sydney, or Melbourne it it comes from Australia at all.’ Wv hear tales of large quantities of opium brought into this. country from the East, and on some occasions small quantities are token from the ships, hut. the quantity thui? secured; in Brisbane is usually siflall—perhaps because the Chinese population lure i IS small. I lngenius ways of smuggling, the drug,i are sometimes di covered, through undgr overt the most rigorou.s starch.

•- “If there is a traffic'to New Zea--1 a nd-rand If do not doubt that there is -there are* three ways in which, : it might be- carried on. . Since, thane arte ,noj or practically \no, ships direct to New Zealand from the Bast, the opium from, China may be smuggled into. England and th.-n on to ship! for the Dominion. It may be taken there from or it may come ; from Ansi trailia--perhaps all three. 1 These does not seem to he any great demand for the dnig in Australia so if such vast quantities are being smuggled in, how are they 7 being consumed ? Some colour is 'lent to the suggestion that Australia, may be uiseid as a depot for' the distribution of the drug in the; Dominion. If the opium is getting in,, you may depend that that it what it is for.”