SAFES WRECKED

Hokitika Guardian, 15 May 1933, Page 3

SAFES WRECKED

WARNING TO BU,‘:INE;S men

(Per Press Association — Copyright

DUNEDIN, May 13,

Cr’miryids with varying ; degrees of knowledge in the use °f explosives are operating in the South Island, but the police have kept ,so close a watch on overseas vessels that criminals" "from overseas a>’e not thought to be iesponj si'ble for the epidemic of gafe" blowing during the past month. Four sales have been blown open in Otago and Canter- ( bury, and the ■crimes'- have 'been divided into two categories of expert work acid .pool craftsmanship. 'When the sum of £l4O was stolen from Mr George' Barton’s butchery in Dunedin, am expert blew open the' safe. He packed :a small 1 office about five yards off the main street with .sacks ' aT! d sawdust, and opened the safe without bother, leaving no traces of poor workmanship. The safe at* tlie .Morven railw'y station was cracked with the same . evidence of efficiency. The criminal is apparently working his way north, and business men are warned to take special precautions. Jt is ulijO clear that a less efficient safe breaker lias been at work in Dunedin and Christchurch, thp destructive bursts at the Abbotsford railway station and Mr W. W. Keighley’s Ember yard, in Fitzgerald Avenue, Christ- ■ churcb, being very similar, the. burglar showing litt] e deftness in his handling of the explosives in both eases. A* * ' ' <