A PLAGUE OF THIEVES.

Otaki Mail, Volume 26, 2 April 1919, Page 4

A PLAGUE OF THIEVES.

I . Sydney is suffering just now from a ' plague of thieves and confidence men. ! The thieves are of the variety known as “sneak”— the contemptible kind which carries the washing off the line ,in the backyard, and snatches old ' ladies’ handbags. The “eon. men” (to use an Americanism) arc not moro than usually-ingenious, but the country visitors seem more than-usually credulous.

j Nowadays one clave not leave anything of value in an unguarded house. I One hears, almost daily, of even little i cottages being raided, and robbed of i cutlery, table linen, cheap ornament?, [ boots'and small articles of 'furniture, j The sporting editor of a big daily.spent i the evening recently in an adjoining ' suburb. When he and liis wife got ! home, about midnight, every light article in the house inut disappeared, and t I

v.o trace of the property was ever found.. Lust week-end a party of thieves, with a.'■art. worked along the main road between Manly and Nuriabeen, robbed every fowlhouso cn route, securing no less llian 111 1 oeu dozen fowls. In a suburb lately, as the result of a midnight raid, a largo bootsliop was almost completely cleaved of its stock. These thieves were caught later, however. Entry-into offices and ■residences, and the theft pf money and small articles of value, is* reported daily.

A particularly mean kind of thief haunts the bathing sheds and goes through the pockets of clothes left there by surfers. A mail who leaves anvthing in liis pockets under such circumstances is simply inviting trouble. The attendants set ail kinds ot' traps for this cunning vermin, but not always successfully. Week-end camps, particularly those in isolated positions, are the regular prey of the thief. Another class of thief goes after motor ears, boats, bicycles, etc., which mac'bo left unguarded and not locked

up. Motor cars quite often are stolen, am! either disappear altogether,/to be rebuilt and so disguised—or arc found minus tyres, lamps and anything else that, may be carried away. ■

The particular victim of the ”con. men” is the man from the country who comes into town with a chctptc and a desire for I 'a good time.” Such persons turn naturally towards the racecourses, and look eagerly for tips. They are simply a godsend to the rascals who haunt racecourses. It is said that for one fleeced countryman who appeals io the police—and they tiro there are a dozen who hate to be laughed at, and say nothing.