Anti-Opium Measures

fTIHE fact that Suva, during the past JL ten years, has become an important distributing point for opium supplies —which came in directly from the Far East, and by circuitous routes via America and Australia —induced the Fiji authori ties to take vigorous action, and lately there has been a round-up of opium traders.

Fijian police officials have been keeping a close watch upon local Chinese sus pected of handling opium, and succeeded in catching a few of them red-handed.

Following the arrival, recently, of a certain vessel from Singapore, two con stables kept a Chinese named Yee Joe under close watch, and he was seen sell ing opium to other Chinese. Later, they discovered a number of small bottles of opium hidden in an earthen bank at the back of his premises. He was fined £lOO, and sentenced to two months.

This traffic is said to have been at its height a couple of years ago. Certain members of the crew of one of the Union Company’s vessels, running between Van couver and Sydney, came under suspicion as a result of discoveries made by the American police in Honolulu. It was later reported that the Union Co. had co-oper ated with the international police officials in cleaning up an organisation that had attained considerable proportions.