AN OPIUM RAID.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 386, 16 May 1908, Page 3

AN OPIUM RAID.

The police have been taking active steps in different parts of the Dominion of late, to prohibit opium smoking among the Chinese, and frequent raids have been recorded. Detective Quirke has been successful in several raids at Palmerston. The authorities are aware that the illegal habit has been practised among a number of local celestials, and have been awaiting a favourable opportunity to pounce upon the misguided Chinese. Last night Detective Quitke arrived from Palmerston, and, in company with Constables Woods and Dixon, took a stroll up the Avenue in the direction of the Chinese rqarket gardens. The first port of call was at Hop Lee’s. The door was opened by the uninvited guests, who observed two, by name Ah Kum and Ah Shung, enjoying their pipes over the opium bowl. The smokers were greatly astonished at the intrusion, and endeavoured to hide the paraphanalia, but the raiders secured the trophies, together with two pots of opium and one tin of opium ash. Ah Hung admitted having purchased the opium in Greymouth, and said he used it as a cure for consumption. Hop Lee. the well-known market gardener, was peacefully sleeping in his bunk when the police arrived, but there was no sign of opium near him. He stated that he had continually appealed to the two first named to give up the habit. Hop Lee is not addicted to the habit. The party then proceeded along the read past the cemetery, and visited the Chinese gardens occupied and> worked by J, W. Lee. The big house has entered but the occupants, six in number, were not indulging. A tent adjoining was next visited and Young Lee and Young Sing, the two occupants, were discovered in the act of smoking, and a tin of opium was also discovered in their possession. They denied that they were smoking opium saying “it was a new ting.” This pair displayed great annoyance.

A visit was then made to an unattached whare occupied by a, Chinaman and a white woman but nothing was there discovered. J. W. Lee’s (the boss) whare was next entered and although there were certain suspicious indications that Lee had been indulging, nothing beyond a warm lamp, pipe, and opium ash were found. These had been placed under his bed. In reply to the police, Lee denied in rather forcible language that he had been smoking. The detective was in the act of searching Lee when Lee snatched a small phial from the wall and commenced to drink from it. The miniature bottle was taken away from Lee and on being asked what it contained answered that it was poison, and he intended to kill himself. The contents had a strong flavour of peppermint, and it was surmised that Lee had partaken of it in order to prevent the smell of opium from his breath. The raid was a complete surprise, and the night air in the vicinity was filled with the unmusical and excitable utterances of the smokers as the party wended their way to town. • No arrests were made but the smokers will be dealt with at the Palmerston S.M. Court at an early date.