THIEF CAUGHT

Hokitika Guardian, 16 January 1932, Page 5

THIEF CAUGHT

SIX MONTHS AT LARGE. £837 STOLEN AT INVERCARGILL. (By Telegraph —Per Press Association) INVERCARGILL, January 10. After an interval of over six months, during which time the police have been making continuous inquiries, an arrest has been made in connection with tlm Ocean Reach Freezing Works pay-roll robbery. This was a, sensational affair which, at noon oil July 3rd last, occurred in iSouth Invercargill, when a sum of immey exceeding £‘B3o was stolen from a car in Maitland Street. It comprised the pay roll of the employees of the Ocean Reach Freezing Coy. In accordance with a. long established custom, Mr George McChesney, pay clerk of the company, came to Invercargill during, tilt* morning to collect the money due to the men for their week’s work. The sum of £837 4s 2d was drawn from the bank in cash, and the money was all in small sums, the highest denomination being £5 notes. Each individual worker’s wages were made up, and put into envelopes at the Invercargill office of Messrs J. G. Ward and Cov., in the Crescent. The pay roll was placed in a leather bag, which was unlocked and Mo Chesney left the office about noon in his ear, an open touring model, on his way to Oce.Tn Bench, McChesney stop, ped for n few minutes at his house in Maitland street, South Invercargill, and after making slight adjustments to his engine, he went indoors to wash his hands and collect his overcoat. He was only away for a very few minutes, but when he returned the bag was missing and nobody was in sight. The absence of the bag was the only testimony that someone bad passed that way. Tlie view of the street, from the house .is obscured by a dense, high macrocarpa hedge, and thus, it would be a simple matter for anyone to take the bag from the car without any likelihood of being seen by those indoors. The police were informed immediately McChesney discovered the loss, but clues were scarce, in view of the fact that no one appeared to have been seen in the vicinity during the brief period that the clerk was away. It was not known whether any local resident noticed a person or persons remove the hag from the car, but it was considered likely that any stranger would be seen, as there is ustinlly a good deal of traffic about noon. Although McChesney had on rare occasions, called at his house before proceeding to the works, it was by no means his usual practice, and it was assumed that the thief had knowledge that the money would be in the car, and that he took advantage of the driver’s brief absence. Acting on information supplied by the~lnvercargiN ’Detective Branch, the Dunedin police this afternoon arrested a, man at Dunedin. The man will be charged there with the theft of the money in the morning.