WONDERFUL SMUGGLING DODGES.

North Otago Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8161, 16 April 1895, Page 1

WONDERFUL SMUGGLING DODGES.

From time to timo a method startlingly up to d»to h brought to light at tho* Customs Hou Bo. Such was that of tlis lady of striking appearance who made poiiodical visits to Now York, accompanied by a Mongolian sorvanfc in charga of a groy pelican, which ho lod with & gold chain. Tho policm was an improvei»ont on tho gooso that laid tho golden eggs. It smuggkd diamonds in its onormoua hill. Up to dato also was tho plan of tho Spaniard who frequently crossed tho Pyronean frontier on a bicycle with tho very latost thing in pneumatic tyres. One day a dog got in his way, and the bicyclist and his machine came to grief under tho eyes of a Custom House officer. Then ib was discovered that tho "safety" had been spocially c >nstructod — tyres, backbone, and saddle— for smuggling raw alcohol. A simi'ar accident led to tho discovery of a method almost equally original. A resplendent carriage, with powdered coachman nnd footman complolo, for months passed daily through a Paris gate. It was overset in a collision. Tho coachman picked himsolf up, but tho gorgeous footman lay unconscious. A spectator ran to tho poor fellow's aid. Ordinary means having failed to bring him round, a douanicr cut him open, and drow from him many gallons of cognac, lie was a lay figure.

Many a man is expected to be the architect of his son in-law'a fortune. In China, which has long been, known as " tho land of opposities," the dials of clocks are mado to turn, round, while tho hands sbaud still. Tho use of arsenic as a boautifying af»ont has become so common in America that tho Board of Health is peticioning Congress to restrict tho st»lc Plans have been prepared for a suggested 6hip canil 1000 miles long between tho Baltic and tho Black Sea. Tho estimated cost is L2<),000,000.