CARGO PILLAGING

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 205, 25 May 1920, Page 7

CARGO PILLAGING

A WIDESPREAD EVIL

THE PUBLIC HAS TO PAY

METHODS OF THE THIEVES

' The citizen who complains about high prices probably does not realise that one of the inoreased charges imposed upon him is created by the operations of the cargO;pillagor. In years gone tho theft _of goods from consignments iu transit from the manufacturer to the retailer was the exception; to-day it is rather the rule. Thousands of pounds worth of stuff are stolen each year' from cases that aro on their., way to Welling-, ton shops. The pillaging covers an extraordinarily wide range oLjjoods, and the occasional proseoutions in the Courts' account for. only a tiny fraction of the actual losses. Most of. the thieves escape detection, and tho public pays the bill] The facts about pillaging have been placed before the public more than once. A typical instance may bo quoted. A Wellington importing house opened a case, which had been landed on the Wellington wharves from an overseas steamer and delivered to the firm after a few days' storage. The case should havo contained silk goods, principally stock-, ings, to the value of J2145. It showed on casual examination : no exterior sign of having been tampered with since it left the manufacturers' packing ipttin. But when .opened the case was found to have lost nearly one-half of its contents, the emptied boxes and wrappers having been left inside. Careful examination showed that a metal band had been cut through with shears, and a' board had been prised open. The thief ■or thieves had removed a portion of tho goods, and had then renailed tho board and fixed the band with a couple of staples 90 neatly that only special 6earoh would reveal tho damage. Investigation threw no light upon the affair, and an insurance company paid for tho loss. The insurance premiums that cover losses cf the kind_ are included, of course, in the retail price of. the goods.

- Pillaging may be as an established custom. It is not_ confined to light and easily concealed good?, such hs silk stockings and other women's garments, which a thief may hide about his person. Consignments of boots and shoes ofton suffer heavily, and astounding ptories aro told of the disappearance of bulky and heayy articles,, such jig Bundles of steel "Votls, bar 9 of metal, and even parte of machinery. The question thnt awaits determination is where the pillaging occurs. The -police court records;, show that a certain amount of it occurs at- the New Zealand wharves, but most of it is never accounted for. Efforts have been made to trace the source of 'the trouble by examination of tho worthless, rubbish that sometimes is put into cases in place of stolen goods, in order to make uri the original weight; but this_ ovidence has seldom proved to bo definite, It serves chiefly to prove, that much of che pillaging is the work of men who have leisure and experience and are working-in an organised wav. A substantial proportion of the pillagJng undoubtedly takes place in Ithis country. In support of that statement ,may be quoted the frequent convictions bv Magistrates, and the fact that goods nre stolen when in transit lietween New Zealand ports. Cases' packed in 'Auckland and in Christchurch for shipment to warehouses. in Wellington have been found on arrival to have been tampered with by the same methods that are employed against overseas, consignments. Six dozen pairs of boots were taken from a case consigned from Christchurch to 'Wellington, and the thieves were not traced. The case had been cleverly opened and reclosed. The theft might have occurred in the store at Christ- , church, or the railway between Christchurch and Lyttelton, in the ship's hold, or in_ the store, at Wellington. The' condition of the case suggested that the thieves had not been hurried in their operations, and that they had experi-. ence-to guide theni. But there; is equally strong evidence -that many thefts occurring in Britain and America/'are not discovered until the cases are opened in this' country. It is a hopeless task then to trace the goods back through all the/ir handlings, and no special effort, is made to do so. The loss is reported to the consignor, and in the course of time aji adjustment is ' made . either by the shipping company or the insurance company. In . either case, the charge eventually is met by ths general public.

Tho facts about some of the pillaging suggest that a very efficient organisation is at 'work, probably overseas. Cases have been found to have ten emptied and filled with almost exactly the same weight of rubbish, such as earth or stones. Consignments consisting of a varied assortment of goods are found sometimes to have' been robbed of a portipn of tho most valuable contents, in such a way as to indicate that tho thieves had prior knowledge of tho packing. A case containing cheap cotton goods will show no 6ign at all of having been touched, while a case of silk goods has been, looted. .■ Yet the marks oh the two cases are the same. The circumstances have led some business men to infer that there is collusion between the packers and tlfe thieves at file port of shipment. But on this paint theVc is little exact evidence. The pillagers appear able to cover their tracks. Speaking of local pillaging, several business men agreed, in conversation with a Dominion reporter, that the efforts made to stamp it out were not adequate. The Magistrates have given some assistance by making it a practice to impose sentences of imprisonment on men convicted of this class of oifence; but detection is relatively 'infrequent. Pillaging in New Zealand ports may be said to tako two forms.' Some cases and packages become broken in transport, owing to fair wear and tear, and their contents are exposed or are oven scattered about a' ship's hold or a wharf store. Legally tho man who jJicks up goods put within his reach in this way is just as bad an offender as the man who deliberately broaches » case; but from the point of view of tho importer the cargo broacher is the worse evil. Yet the casual thief is more often detected than the deliberate thief, probably beoauso lie is less exprincd, and takes fewer precautions. Tho number of prosecutions has increased since tho appointment of waterside police, and this fact suggests one of the directions in which protective m'easures might proceed. Business men appear to agree than tho evil' requires mojp comprehensive treatment than has been attempted. Pillaging cannot be cured in' any one port or any ono country.