LOCKER RAID

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26638, 8 December 1947, Page 4

LOCKER RAID

WATERSIDE WORKERS’ QUARTERS POLICE SEIZE CONTENTS Daily Times Special Service CHRISTCHURCH, Dec. 7. Police and detectives, led by Detective Sergeant J. Halcrow, raided the Coronation Hall, Lyttelton, yesterday, and investigated the contents of lockers used by waterside workers. With the police party were the president of the Lyttelton branch of the New Zealand Waterside Workers’ Union, Mr W. B. Laing, and the acting secretary of the union, Mr Read, who had been asked by the police to attend the investigation. As each locker was searched, the investigating party marked the locker with a large white cross and returned to it all personal effects. The raid lasted from 4 p.m. until nearly 9 p.m., during which time every locker in the hall was opened. There was a wide range of goods on the long tables in the Coionation Hall after the search was completed, one eye-witness describing the spectacle as being “ like Woolworths on a Friday night.” Among the goods—which the police carefully marked and tagged—were large wrenches, tinned foods, dried fruits, and packages of rice, all of which were removed in three cars by the police.

During the past week, police and detectives have been investigating cargo pillaging on the Lyttelton waterfront and yesterday was the culminating day of a widespread search. Vessels lying alonside the wharves were searched for evidence of pillaging and it is reported that articles of pillaged cargo, including considerable quantities of silk, have been removed from the ships by the police.