GEMS & GOLD GONE.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1802, 15 July 1913, Page 6

GEMS & GOLD GONE.

IN MAHENO'S MAILS. ' THE MAIL BAG RIPPED OPEN. (By Tolojrapli—PrcE3 Association.) Auckland, July 14. When til© Maheno arrived from Sydney yesterday afternoon, it was found that a packet cf prccious stones consigned by mail to C.' J. Nurse and Co., wholesale jewellers, Auckland, ■ had been robbed of its contents. A thorough search of the mail-bag in -which the was carried mas made, but no tra«/could bo found oi? the missing jewels. Subsequent inquiries have established the fact that they have been stolen in transit from England. It was found that the mail-bag had been ripped open with a knife or other sharp instrument, and, through the opening, the packet had been reached. The robbery has apparently been committed at some place on the voyage where the mails have had to wait over for a time, because the tenr. on the mail-bag had been very carecfuUy sewn up. The jewellery had been Eaclced in two wooden boxes by a Home rm, and, when the mail-bag was opened yesterday, it was discovered that both had been tampered with. The contents of one had been wholly taken, while part of what was in the other had been left. The Auckland police are of opinion that tho interference took jilace before the mails ivere shipped at Sydney, and probably by some person who had knowledge of the character of the consignment. Otherwiso the probability of picking out tho correct mail-bag would bo a very remote one. Further investigations aro being made. Mr. Nurse, in speaking to a reporter, said that the two packages tampered with had contained very valuable jewellery. One, which contained gems and gold only, had been completely emptied, but the other, which had also some articles that could pot : £e so easily disposed of, was robbed of more valuable goods. He estimated the loss at about .£4OO.