BUSY BURGLARS.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 232, 1 October 1928, Page 8

BUSY BURGLARS.

CITY FIRM SUFFERS.

BACK TAKEN OFF SAFE.

LABORIOUS TASK.

•SMALL REWARD FOR TROUBLE

Paper and documents littered about the floor and the safe ripped open and lying on its side was the discovery made at (lie premises of Aulscbrook and Co., •■onfcctioncry manufacturers, Beach Road, wlicn tlic premises were opened this morning, and it was all too evident that burglars had been at work during tlic week-end. The amount stolen from the safe was about £10 only, as the firm does not make a practice of keeping large amounts there over a Sunday. The burglars had entered the premises from the back, where they had exceptional facilities for quiet work. There arc vacant sections on both sides of Anlsebrook's building, a portion of one being covered with a tangle of bluebell, nasturtium, fennel and wild turnip. The burglars had evidently scaled a high, sharp-topped iron fence to reach Anisebrook's yard, and a piece of baulk timber had been propped up against a wall tl the vicinity of a window. A small ole was broken in the pane of glass to pivc access to the catch, and then the way was open for the visitors to find their way through the building to the safe, which was near the office. One method of opening a safe is to "blow" it with high explosive. In this instance the visitors worked on oldfashioned lines. They tipped the safe over and laboriously cut the back off it, a feat which must have taken a considerable time. "They must have taken a day over it," said one of titer principals of the firm this morning. Reflectively he added that he thought of calling at the premises yesterday afternoon, and he was wondering what might have happened in that case. As ',t was he did not call, and nothing was known that anything untoward had happened until this morning. The rifled safe was a large one. and so heavy that it took five men this morning to stand it in its proper upright position. Anlsebrook's building is screened immediately at, the back by a large building of another firm on the Anzac Road frontage, and could be easily reached from either Beach Road or Anzac Avenue. Epsom Houses Visited. On Saturday night two Epsom houses were visited, £20 in money being stolen from one, while at the other, that of Mr. H. J. Brewer, solicitor, in Ranfurly Road, only 'a few odds and ends were stolen. The thief gained entrance by breaking two windows at the rear of the house. It is thought that he was an amateur, for ho ignored articles of value. A neighbour saw a man walking away from Mr. Brewer's house aboii* 9.30 p.m. Clothing Factory Entered. During the week-end the premises of R. Greer and Son, clothing manufacturers, Douglas Street, Ponsonby, were entered, but nothing of value was stolen. This "job" is thought to be the work of boys, for no effort was made to enter the office. The cutting room was the only place visited, entrance being effected by breaking a window in the back yard.