CARGO PILLAGING

Southland Times, Issue 18849, 15 June 1920, Page 2

CARGO PILLAGING

THE PUBLIC HAS TO PAY,

METHODS OF THE THIEVES,

The citizen who complains about high prices probably does not realise that one of the increased charges imposed upon him is created by the operations of the cargopillager {says the Dominion). In years gone by the theft of goods from consignments in transit from the manufacturer to the retailer was the exception; to-day it is rather the rule. Thousands of pounds worth of stuff are each year from cases that on their way to Wellington shops. The pillaging covers an extraordinarily wide range of goods, and the occasional prosecutions in the Courts account for only a tiny fraction of the actual losses. Most of the thieves escape detection, and the public pays the bill. The facts about pillaging have been placed before the public more than once. A typical instance may be quoted. A Wellington importing house opened a case, which had been landed on the Wellington wharves from an overseas steamer and delivered to the firm after a few days’ storage. The case should have contained silk goods, principally stockings, to the value of £143. It showed on casual examination no exterior sign of having been tampered with since it left the manufacturer’s packing room. But when opened the case was found to have lost nearly one-half of its contents, the emptied boxes and wrappers having been left inside. Careful examination showed that a metal band had been cut through with shears, and a board had been prised open. The thief or thieves had removed a portion of the goods, and had then renailed the board and fixed the band with a couple of staples so neatly that only special search would reveal the damage. Investigation . threw no light upon the affair and an insurance company paid for the loss. The insurance premiums that cover losses of the kind are included, of course, in the retail price of the goods. Pillaging may be regarded as an established custom. It is not confined to light and easily concealed goods, such as silk stockings and other women’s garments, which a thief may hide about his person. Consignments of boots and shoes often suffer heavily, and astounding stories are told of the disappearance of bulky and heavy articles, such as bundles of steel rods, bars of metal, and even parts of machinery. The question that awaits determination is where the pillaging occurs. The police court records show that a certain amount of it occurs at the New Zealand wharves, but most of it is never accounted for. Efforts have been made to trace the source of the trouble by examination of the worthless rubbish that sometimes is put into cases in place of stolen goods, in order to make up the original weight; but this evidence has seldom proved to be definite. It serves chiefly to prove that much of the pillaging is the work of men who have leisure and experience and are working in an organised way. A substantial proportion of the pillaging undoubtedly takes place in this country. In. support of that statement may be' quoted the frequent convictions by Magistrates, and the fact that goods are stolen when in transit between New Zealand ports. Cases packed in Auckland and in Christchurch for shipment to warehouses in Wellington have been found on arrival to have been tampered with by the same methods thst arc employed against overseas consignments. Six dozen pairs of boots were taken from a case consigned from Christchurch to Wellington, and the thieves were not traced. The case had been cleverly opened and reclosed. The theft might have occurred in the store at Christchurch, or the railway between Christchurch and Lyttelton, in the ship’s hold, or in the store at Wellington. The condition of the case suggested that the thieves had not been hurried in their operations, and that they had experience to guide them. But there is equally strong evidence that many thefts occurring in Britain and America are not discovered until the cases are opened in this country. It is a hopeless task then to trace goods back through all their handlings, and no special effort is made to do so. The loss is reported to the consignor, and in J.he course of time an adjustment is made either by the shipping company or the insurance company. In either case, the charge eventually is met by the general public.

The facts about some of the pillaging suggests that a very efficient organisation is at work, probably overseas. Cases have been found to have been emptied and filled with almost exactly the same weight of rubbish, such :is earth or stones. Consignments consisting of a varied assortment of goods are found sometimes to have been robbed of a portion of the most valuable contents, in such a way as to indicate that the thieves had prior knowledge of the packing. A case containing cheap cotton goods will show no sign at all of having been touched, while a case of silk goods has been looted. Yet the marks on the two cases are the same. The circumstances have led some business men to infer that there is collusion between the packets and the thieves at the port of shipment. But on this point there is little exact evidence. The pillagers appear able to cover their tracks. Speaking of local pillaging, several Wellington business men agreed, in conversation with a Dominion reporter, that the efforts made to stamp it out were not adequate. The Magistrates have given some assistance by making it a practice to impose sentences of imprisonment on men convicted of this class of offence; but detection is relatively infrequent. Pillaging in New Zealand ports may be said to take two forms. Some cases and packages become broken in transport, owing to fair wear and tear, and their contents are exposed or are even scattered about a ship’s hold or a wharf store. Legally the man who picks up goods put within his reach in this way is just as bad an offender as the man who deliberately broaches a case; but from the point of view of the importer the cargo broacher is the worst evil. Yet the casual thief is more often detected than the deliberate thief, probably because he is less experienced, and takes fewer precautions. The number of prosecutions has increased since the appointment of waterside police, and this fact suggests one of the directions in which protective measures might proceed. Business men appear to agree that the evil requires more comprehensive treatment than has been attempted. Pillaging cannot be cured in any one port or any one country.