WHOLESALE TRAFFIC IN DANGEROUS DRUGS.

A case of considerable public importance, which disclosed the wholesale traffic in cocaine and other dangerous drugs, was heard yesterday at the Guildhall Police-court by Sir William Pryke. Defendant was Howard Montague Fogden Humphrey, 32, who carried on business as a hardware merchant at 57, Basing-hall-street, E.C. He was charged with having on Jan. 31 last unlawfully offered to procure morphine, heroin, and cocaine for Tong Say Bros. Company, of Amoy, China, contrary to regulations of the Dangerous Drugs Regulations of May 20, 1921, made under Section 7 of the Dangerous Drugs Act, 1920. Sir Henry Curtis Bennett, K.C., leading counsel for defendant, in entering a plea of guilty, urged that his client only acted as intermediary between licensed dealers in France and Tiew. The maximum penalty was imposed on defendant, who was fined £200 and six months’ imprisonment in the second division.