Evening star., 1923-10-10
Drug Smugggglers Force Recall
To Duty of British Coast Guard
BY THE MARaUIsE DE FoNTENoY.

NJ hhFS AAnatASE b6 roNIENo1.
Although it is less than year ago
| that the popular and admirable force
| of British seaInen composed of vet
Grams of the royal navy, known as
| the coast guards. under the command
of Vice Admiral Sir Morgan Singer.
nomy, il has become necessary to re-
establish the service and even to in
crease it's former size. This is due
to the ordinary/Namount Of
cocaine and other drugs of an analogous
+, kind. that are being smuggled into the
United Kingdom. 1t has been shown
! that the Illicit traffic in these drugs has,
since last March. assumed size SO
enormously out Of proportion to the law
| full impertations for medicinal use. as to
| leave no doubt whatsoever that these
drugs were finding their way into the
British Isles from abroad otherwise
than b. the regular trade routes. An
| investigation was quietly instituted
which resulted in the discovery that
! they were snluggled into the country by
! means of rowboats, operating from in
nocent looking fishing and merchant
craft, under the cover of the night on
| lonely and remote portions of the coast.
incidentally, the fact was brought to
light that a number of undesirable
| aliens who had been expelled from the
United Kingdom by the police. and who.
country, had been turned back, at
Faulkstone, Boulogne. Newhaven. South
hampton, Harwich. Hull and other
channel and North sea ports, had man
aged to make their way back into Great
Britain by means OF landing from fish
| ing and other kinds of sail boats, and
even from steam yachts. lying off
deserted portions of the coast. A
| number. of undeslrah bic aliens OF this
kind. who had got back to England by
these unlawful means, blest with more
money than principle and consequently
dangerous, have been arrested and SEN
| fenced to terms in prison before being
/ once more expelled
! All this has convinced the government
of the necessity of. the restoration Of
| the coast guards, who were SO pictur-
esque a feature of the sea bound
frontiers of the British Isles.
i: i !: x
Up till a hundred years ago the
coast guards were known as pre-
ventive men," and both they and
| their boats were subject to the treas
! ury, and more especially to the Gus
| toms department thereof. But King
! William ", who was a sailor by pro-
fession, transferred the entire force
! to the navy and insisted that they
should be regarded as naval reserves
| and recruited from farmer able sea-
/ men and petty officers of the navy.
| Occupying low. single-storied bar
I racks erected on elevated points of
| the seashore, or else stationed in
| those odd looking circular so-called
! Martello towers which. until a CEN
| tury ago, dotted British cliffs and
| coast for their defense against any
] hostile foreign landing, they COM
| manded an outlook onto the horizon
/ and along the beach. Patrolling the
| shore in couples, by day and by night,
! there was little that escaped their
| which they displayed in effecting the
| rescue of vessels wrecked on the
rocks and sand kept their names con-
| stantiy before the public in very
| popular light. While the war was in
| progress, although their ranks were
! sadly depleted by the large numbers
+, of them recalled to active service at
4 sea on board those armed trawlers
\ and mine sweepers which contributed
so much to drive the German navy
| from under the sea and from it's sur
! face vet those who remained on shore
gave q wonderful account of them
! selves and were quick to signal the
; presence on the horizon OF any craft
(, that looked in the least degree sus-
| picious.
/ The British government seems to
| have thought that their work could
! be just as effectively. done by the
F; county constabularies. by the reve-
! nue. officers and by the local police
| force of the nearby towns. But the
| smugglers of unlawful drugs and of
! undesirable aliens have taken such
J an enormous advantage of the alb
! sence of any sort of watch kept at
night on the uninhabited and remote
/ portions of the seacoast that the
/ coast guards. with their veteran cap
| tains and retired lieutcnants and
| petty officers, are now, once more,
| resumipg their duties, much TO the
/ satisfaction of the people and to the
{, dismay of the eyildeers. OF course,
| il would be impossible to smuggie
heavy freight into the country in that
1 fashion. But drugs arc so easily con-
| cealed and occupy so little space and
/ meter cars have become so numerous,
| attracting but little attention, that
this kind of smuggling has become
very easy.
When. some weeks ago, Plus 1XI
gave orders for the extensive repair
or his palace. known as the Castle of
scandoIfo IN among the AIban hills