London, July 21, An ingenious method of defrauding the Customs was described by the! prosecution when a 28-year-old Cigarette. manufacturer was fined over £30,000, or alternatively six months' imprisonment, for smuggling] a quantity of tobacco, was stated that the accused bought the tobacco from a London firm for £340, shipped it to Ant werp out of bond, and then a ranged to have it smuggled ba'
The scheme involved cutting up the tobacco, making cigarettes secret factory, and then supplying! them at cut price to shops selling, coupon cigarettes which had been deprived of their supplies through big firm combines discontinuing the coupon system.
To-day's action is connected wit the case at Portsmouth on June. 29, when a record fine aggregating £75.- 000, or alternatively six months imprisonment each, was imposed on a cigarette maker and a master' tranner for "smuggling tobaceo—
The famous voleano of Vesuvius at Naples is reported to be heloting forth flames, causing considerable easiness among villagers living near the bottom of the volcano, Seven thousand acres of forest in the Prussian province of Pomerania are re~ ported to be on fire with the flames Savancing at the rate of a hundred yards, a minute. Hundreds of Volunteers are making desperate efforts to check the fire, Unfortunately, all of the rain here yesterday evening fell where the Toast benefits can be derived and the local authorities are imploring the public to economise in the use of water, predicting a famine in September. One and three-quarter inches of rain fell at Beckenham, while over four inches of rain fell at Hayes.
Due to the heavy rain, 9 landslide blocked the railway crossing between Twickenham and" Richmond. The electric. railway was disabled and hundreds of cars stalled, many of the vehicles being axle deep in mud, American Reafforestation Scheme According to reports from New York, it is feared that large tracts of land in North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Montana and Minnesota will be converted into deserts as the scorching winds continue to tear off the top-sell of the drought-stricken land.
The United States Department of Agriculture announces plans for the planting of a forest belt of a hundred miles deep from Canada to Texas, in order to prevent a repetition of the present drought in years to come. It stated that. the project will cost $75,000,000. President Roosevelt has Already signed a. preliminary ap~ [propriation for $18,000,000 for this purpose.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.