SMUGGLING OPIUM

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 213, 17 December 1910, Page 9

SMUGGLING OPIUM

A PROFITABLE BUSINESS. RICH SYNDICATE AT WORK. When the Commonwealth decided to prohibit the importation of opium into Australia, it voluntarily surrendered an annual revenue to the extent of £60,000. But (says the Melbourne Argus) it did more than that: it made available for the smuggling of opium all that money which had previously been paid in duty. At least, £60,000 a year was waiting to be earned by the first band of men clever enough to smuggle into Australia the opium needed by the Chinese residents of the Commonwealth. But the prohibition has done more than that. Opium which before the prohibition was worth 30s a tin, after the prohibition advanced to £2, £3 and £4, until, at the present time, a tin of poor class smoking opium is worth £5 in Little Burke-street, Melbourne. That same tin, if sent by rail or by post to Narrenedra, or Hay, or further afield, is worth from £ 6 to £7. The cost of it outside the Customs is about Bs, so that the profit on every tin of opium smuggled into Australia can be set down as at least £4 12s, and possibly £6 l<6s. When such huge profits are to be made in a trade it is not long before men and capital are attracted. It is true that there is smuggling, but smuggling has always been regarded as a white crime at worst, while the law apparently takes the same view, since it provides for only a fine whenever a smuggler is caught. The deterrent effect of a £SO fine on a smuggler who, has successfully "run" a consignment on which he has made a profit of £2OOO or £3OOO needs no comment. He hastens away to arrange for the next consignment with joy in his heart. Officially opium is valued at 30s a tin. Actually its value inside Australia is nearly ten times that figure. The reason for this is plain when the methods of the opium smuggler are considered. There is a syndicate of opium smugglers in Australia whose headquarters are in Melbourne. Of the personnel and the operations of this syndicate more will be said later. For the present it ■ suffices to say that the syndicate has an agent in Hongkong. That agent buys opium in tins—pure smoking opinm—for 8s a tin. Every tin contains only 70z., though' its capacity is much greater. This is 'to'allow for swelling. If the tin weTe filled it.would burst. As it is, tins burst occasionally, and then the leakage sends the best-laid plans of the syndicate agley. But 500 tins at 8s means a loss of only £2O in money. Such losses are borne philosophically, especially since such a capture consoles the Customs officials mightily, and helps the syndicate next time.

A consignment having been bought by the Hongkong agent, it is forwarded to Melbourne by means of the system which has been carefully built up in the last few years. Eventually, after much transhipment and considerable voyaging, it reaches the depot in Melbourne. That depot was for a time a fashionable villa in a fashionable suburb. Again it was a room in a superior boardinghouse, where f-he bead smuggler posed as a commercial traveller. At the depot the tins are "salted." Half the opium is removed from every tin, and in its place is put an equal mixture of molasses and flour. The drawn-off opium is similarly treated, and then re-tinned. Thus a consignment of 500 tins, costing £2O, ,is converted into a consignment of 1000 tons, worth at least £SOOO, and possibly £7OOO. The Pure Foods Act and the Commerce Act do not apply to smuggled goods, and the smugglers stick at nothing to enlarge their profits. The opium is distributed over the country- with the greatest care. The smugglers are particularly careful to see that the market is never overstocked. The demand for smoking opium is always greater than the supply. The profits, it will be seen, are enormous; but, of course, they do not all .flow into the pockets of the principals. If tikey did the trade would cease in a week. In every port in the Commonwealth which is used for opium smuggling there are officials in the pay of the syndicate. Men carrying on such a nrofitable business are able to buy a few accomplices among, hard-worked officials with small salaries. This is the reason why the Customs Department is unable to cope with the traffic. Some of its own officers are engaged in the trade. Traps have been set to catch them. Borne have succeeded; some have failed. All that has actually resulted is to convince the heads of the Department tb|\t a few of their employees have been unable to resist the great temptations held out by those who control the opium traffic.