Opium Cases,

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVII, Issue 93, 19 December 1913, Page 5

Opium Cases,

GUILTY OF SMOKING.

A CHINESE FINED. Sing Lee, for whom Mr P. Spence appeared, pleaded guilty at the Couit this morning to,four charges under the Opium Act, setting out Ijh.it he had opium in his possession, aii«.: that he had smoked opium. Mr J. rl. Hi-mp-ton, Collector of Customs, New Plymouth, prosecuted. • William O'Meara, Customs officer, New Plymouth, gave evidence that on November 12th the premises of accused were examined. He found ;> small cocoa tin containing opium it) a form suitable for smoking, and a matchbox containing the same. A small bottle also contained opium. He found two tobacco tins of seconds. The S.M. explained that "seconds'' were opium ash, and contained ten to twelve per cent, of opium. The Exhibits.

Witness produced two complete pipes, and a large empty bottle which had contained tincture. Two wives and two knives bearing traces ol opium were put in; also a small bottle with a trace of tincture. A lamp waa also put in, as also was a large bottle of tincture.

The S.M. : I suppose it is an opium lamp? It could be used for a night light. Mr Spence: Probably it was used for that. These men keep a laundry. This completed the case for the Crown. The Defence. Mr Spence said that a Chinese named Wong came to Stratford and gave Lee some opium. Since the raid was made Wong had moved on. Wong was a peripatetic individual. Every man was supposed to know the law, even a Chinaman, and accused would have to pay the penalty. Counsel asked that the Court take into consideration the fact that accused was not the original procurer of .the opium. A large penalty would fall heavily on accused, who had only a small business. Mr Hempton said it seemed improbable that Wong would carry about with him the.big"bottles of tincture. The S.M. said that in. the recent cases at Hawera the excuse made was tliat the stuff belonged to some person who had since disappeared. The quantity of "seconds" in this case represented a large amount of smoking. It seemed incredible that such a large amount of tincture should be held by one person and it '.seemed clear that no one person could smoke the o'pium extracted from such a quantity of tincture.

Mr Hempton said accused had never previously been convicted for a similar offence.

The Judgment. The S.M. sai.l the case was more serious than the one he had recently heard in Hawera. Accused was liable to a line of £SO, but in view of it being a first offence the fine would be £25, with costs £1 12s 6d. The S.M. asked if accused could pay the fine on the spot. Otherwise he would have to remain in custody. He could not be given even a day to find the money. He (the S.M.), failing payment, must make out a warrant committing accused to prison, he to remain there until the fine was paid.

An order was made for the destruction of all the material seized, with the exception,of the bottle of tincture, which was of considerable value, and which the Customs Department could, no doubt, dispose of to advantage. The fine was paid into Court.

THE SALE OF OPIUM.

IMPERFECT RECORDS KEPT. T. A. W. Nicholson, chemist, was charged on nine information at the Court this morning for breaches of jtbe Opium Aet,.lhe offences consisting of two charges of failing to balance the "retail record book" and seven charges of purchasing tincture of opium and failing to account for its disposal. Mr G. H. Weston (representing the Customs Department) prosecuted and defendant was represented by Mr R. Spence, and pleaded guilty.

What the Retail Boak Disclosed.

Mr Weston said he had been asked to press for the maximum penalty in each case. it was a very important matter to keep the "chemist's retail book." It was desirable to have opium for medicinal purposes, but the Government, very rightly, laid down strict restrictions. The book before the Court showed that defendant had been buying enormous quantities. Nicholson acquired his business in December, 1912. His predecessor in the previous year purchased 101 b lOoz of tincture while for the past year Nicholson had bought 2954 11). Tin? records showed that in the first three months of the year he bought 211), for the second thrOa months G3Jlb, and from June to September he bought 230ilbs. This enormous quantity Mould look suspicious, but there could be no trouble if the whole quantity bad been accounted for properly. Nicholson said lie had used the opium for cattle proscriptions, medicinal purposes and horse and cattle drenches. A Customs officer had gone through the prescriptions and had found that the cattle prescriptions totalled only 1J H). A generous estimate of the opium necessary for ordinary medici-