September 17 1924
At Malin District Court, Patrick J Duffy, Glenelly, the driver of a motor lorry, was charged with importing tobacco which he failed to declare.
A customs officer said the defendant was coming from Derry with his lorry. At the Muff Post he was asked if he had anything to declare, and he said he had not. The witness became suspicious, and searching under the driver’s seat found two pounds of tobacco. He charged the defendant treble the value and treble the duty.
The defendant said he did not know the tobacco was there. A fine of £4 and £1 costs was imposed.
While many ran the gauntlet of smuggling dutiable goods over the border, those that were caught paid a heavy financial penalty, it being hoped it would act as a deterrent against smuggling.
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A Step Further?
There is no particular reason for getting excited over the fact that Sir James Craig and his colleagues of the northern cabinet decided in the neighbourhood of London yesterday to persist in their policy of obstruction and resistance to the British Imperial authority.
They could have sent out the announcement more economically from Stormont Castle; perhaps it was a desire to emulate Lord Carson’s melodramatic posturings of 10 years ago that inspired the idea of defying England on the banks of the Thames, a few miles away from Westminster, Downing Street, and Buckingham Palace.
“Although the offer to Mr [WT] Cosgrave to settle the matter by mutual agreement is still kept open, it was decided to adhere to former decisions not to appoint a representative on the commission.”
Having thus declared themselves, the northern ministers quoted passages from Mr Lloyd George’s pronouncements as a justification of their attitude.
Is there a party, or section, in any country in the world who would not find something to vindicate its behaviour in the voluminous utterances by Mr Lloyd George? He is daily cited quite effectively in the support of the Free State’s position.
The Labour Party and the die-hards in Great Britain find inspiration in his speeches. Anti-Bolsheviks quote him – by the yard. If the Bolsheviks cared to resurrect and examine his earlier oratory, they would find columns so lurid that Trotsky’s purplest imagery might seem white as wool in comparison.
