BURGLARY BY PANTECHNICON.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9366, 8 February 1909, Page 6

BURGLARY BY PANTECHNICON.

Burglary by pantechnicon (the name given to a large covered removing van) has come into vogue again in England. The latest exploit"' of the kind of which we have word was particularly cruel. The rooms of the Ladies’ Work Society, which provides work for ladies in distressed circumstances, were entered, and goods to the value of £IOOO taken. The burglars seem to have made a leisurely examination of the good* and to have taken only the best. Quantities of valuable underclothing, bedspreads, curtains, and other articles, many of them beautifully worked by highly skilled hands, were taken, so that the 1 burglars must have had some sort of vehicle in waiting. In the kitchen were found the remains of a supper, and a pack of cards, which show that burglary may be quite a comfortable profession. The pathos of the 'situation could hardly be exaggerated. Some of the work stolen represented the entire wealth of its producers, who had spent weeks and in some cases months, on it. A police officer told a journalist that it is very difficult to prevent this kind of theft. Not long ago a Beckham family oh returning from the seaside, found that everything in the house, down to the linoleum, had been removed. Enquiry showed that the burglary had been done in broad daylight, and no one had thought that .there was anything wrong. At Wimbledon thieves went further, stealing house as well as furniture. The house was sold to be broken up, and when the owners came back'from Switzerland, they found a vacant plot of land where their home had been. The famous Wilson Barrett was victimised in this way. The day after he started on a tour, six pantechnicons and, twenty men turned up at his house in Highbury and leisurely stripped the place from attic to basement. Not an article was recovered. “The only precaution that you can take against cases of this kind is to inform the police and neighbours of your movements, otherwise you cannot expect the public fto take the responsibility of interference.”