PETTY PILFERING

Opotiki News, Volume II, Issue 166, 3 April 1939, Page 4

PETTY PILFERING

FORM OF EXHIBITIONISM ; SOUVENIR HUNTERS ' ■ ENORMOUS ■ . LOSSES , ' ‘ \ . ' ; ' ..JJ - U ! : ? j-i'.iu- , HOTELS, TRAINS, SHIPS ■ • -7 ■ • . . ■ ;( ' There is something to lie said for the rogues who, on tire main LondonSouthcnd road, stole a whole barrel of XXXXX beer from a. hotel, withouteven leaving one X K to mark the' spot. There is something to be said for ■the old Oxford custom of collecting policemen’s helmets, because there is some glamour and a good deal off risk attached to it. ; < There is even something W be said for the women of Kingstandiiig, near Birminghaiii, who the other day were accused of stealing entire apple trees from an (orchard. '

But for the ordinary petty pilferer, the souvenir hunter, there can be nothing but contempt, says a writer in the London Daily Mirror. Usually a man of means, lie thinks it is very clever to help himself to anythingfrom a pair of opera glasses to an ashtray. < And he is even prepared to boast about bis skill at this peculiarly easy game.

The amount of petty theft committed is not easy to calculate. The total amount is enormous.

When interviewed!, the general manager. of the Universal Automatic Delivery company, a firjn which supplies 10,000 pairs of opera glasses a year for hire to the big theatres, said: “Our opera glasses are put only in the expensive seats. They: are hired by putting sixpence in a slot. Each pair of glasses carries a tag stating whose property they are, the fact that anyone found in. unlawful possession is liable to prosecution, and the further fact that we offer £25 reward for 'information leading to conviction. “Yet of the 10,000 pairs we supply to' the expensive seats of the bestclass theatre, we lose 2000 every .year. “It is incredible how people can stoop to so mean and miserable a. theft.” Towels Disappear According to an official of the London and North-Eastern: Railway:' “Passengers steal towels as a matter of course. We are now more- or less accustomed to that. But towels don’t seem to satisfy them. “We have had to make a rule at King's Gross that oh special flights—for instance, after an EnglandScotland; football match—all the ordinary cutlery is put away, and a cheaper kind set out. “We have learned, from the past that cutlery is apparently irrc.si stable among a certain type of long-distance traveller. “On one occasion, the Duke of

Windsor asked a guard on the way to Grantham-why it was that hassocks, in the first-class compartment were chained.

“T ( he. guard had to explain that, not even, .those of His Mejesty’s loyal-.sub-jects.;-who-; travelled,. fifst-clas.s were quite clear above the laws of property, ' ' - ' Window Straps Safe “Fashions have changed. In the old days people used to steal the window straps to use as. strops. But with the introduction of the safety ra<zor Ave find Ave can iioav call our windoAV straps our oAvn. ‘'Tilings are improving slightly, on the Avhole. But there is still an astonishing proportion of travellers who regard everything on the’ railway as just belonging to anyone in particular. “As you probably know, there avus scarcely a single ash tray left on hoard after the maiden voyage of the Normandie,” an official of the French Line said. First-class passengers had helped themselves as. liberally as any others.

“We are iioav practically resigned to petty pilfering in that direction. People AA’ho avou ld ; never think of stealing sixpence, seem to think nothing of helping themseh'es to the company’s' toAvels and fittings. “It has become a mania.” Silver Steins “We used to serve beer in silver tankards, as you knoAv,” the manager of the Old'e Cock, a famous tavern in Fleet street, remarked.“ “But strangers dropped in, visitors to London, and helped themselves at a rate that sometijnes. amounted to three silver tankards a day. “They Avere nearly all Avell-to-do people, and simply out to collect a souvenir for a bit of fun. They were never regular, customers. But their fun became a bit tiresome for us, , f -

“So much so that Ave have been forced to change over to ordinary glass.” “Our losses from petty theft are enormous,” the. manager of a famous London inn remarked. “I reinember once going to a party given,by a wealthy young blood outside 'London. He started tilings rolling by showing us his cabinet ol’ souvenirs. “The first thing 1 noticed about it Avas that it containedl three lovely' silver tankards from my oavil lionise.” All. the concerns intervieAved did not admit, to. the same losses. The Savoy Hotel was calm*.—“We now use very heavy ash trays, anyAvay” ■ the Southern Railway Avas shocked; Cunard-White Star Avere non-committal. But there ■ Avere other concerns, greater still, avlio admitted in full the enormous toll they haA r e to pay through theft eA r ery year. They simply asked that their admissions should not. he- made public. It isn’t cloA’er and it isn’t funny to lift other, people’s property. •It is only a 'snivelling form ,of vanity that drives an othenvise AA'ell-edu-cated person to this pathetic form of exhibitionism. It is high time he Avas held up to public ridicule as a “double-crosser.”