Smuggling Through The Mails

The Secretary of the Treasury has written a letter to the Collector of Custonis at Bangor, Maine, in response to a oommunication from that offioer stating that under oover of the recent postal regulations, which allow packages not exceeding four ounces in weight to be carried in mails, valuable packages of velvelts, silks, gloves, and similar arti cles daily arrive in Bangor in the mails from the province of New Brunswick, in transitu to more interior points, and which are conveyed on the Eastern and North American Railway. The collector inquires whether an ofiicer of the custonis, when upon the oars oarrying mails, discovers in the mails or postal car packages which he has reason to believe are being smuggled, is authorized by any law to seize them. The Treasury Department informa the collector that under no circumstances is an officer of the custonis authorized to seize or detain packages conveyed in mails or postal cars under charge of persons empowered to oarry mails or watch over such cars. If, however, a oustoms officer discovers packages which he has reason to believe contain smuggled goods, and their dostination to a particular postoftice in the United States be known, it is his duty to notify the master of suoh postofiice and request the retention of the packages until they can be opened in the presence of the person to whom addressed and in the presence of a customs officer, in order that the government duties may be paid, or, if there be crime, forfeiture enforced. There has also been correspondence between the Secretary of the Treasury and the Postmaster-General on the subjeot, in which Secretary Bristow invites suggestions for remedying the evil oomplained of, as he may consider most suitable for the purpose.