Money Taken From Milk Bottles

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30958, 14 January 1966, Page 1

Money Taken From Milk Bottles

Christchurch milk and bread vendors are being hard hit by thieves. In the last week money has been stolen from milk bottles and bread boxes in several parts of the city.

One of the hardest-hit areas is Burnside. One vendor in that area, Mr K. R. Kane, said last evening that bottles on his round had been raided three times in the last nine days.

The thieves often emptied bottles from 200 or more homes, and vendors with rounds near his, which was in the Kendall avenue district, had suffered. The thieves could take £lO or £l5 a night, and in his area were stealing the silver and leaving the pennies. The thefts had been reported to the police, and he had seen a patrol car cruising about the streets several times. It was thought those responsible were probably youths with cars. In addition to daily milk and bread money, some homeowners left the money for accounts in their boxes, and this increased the thieves’ ’Take,” said Mr Kane. He said that if tokens were stolen vendors did not expect consume! s to replace them, as they already had paid for their milk when purchasing the tokens. However,

when money left in bottles was stolen, it was the consumer’s loss.

The police asked that anyone who saw persons tampering with milk bottles should telephone them immediately. Patrol cars in the area would be on the spot very quickly.

Mr Kane said all vendors previously had encountered some thefts from milk bottles, but at present there was a

spate of such thefts. Tokens were seldom taken, and if the thieves found only tokens they usually threw them away. He was sure that if everyone used milk tokens instead of leaving cash the thefts would stop. The Fendalton area was raided by thieves about two nights ago, and there have also been thefts in Bishopdale and Linwood.

The president of the Canterbury Milk Vendors’ Association (Mr P. A. Caithness) said last evening that one woman recently looked out her window about 1 a.m. and saw three youths stealing from milk bottles. There was no telephone in the house, and she shouted at the youths, who promptly made off.

Mr Caithness estimated that 60 to 70 per cent of customers were now using milk tokens, but said thieves could still find raids profitable. However, they were often noisy when moving bottles, and householders might bear them and call the police.