BURGLARS ARE BUSY

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 13, 6 April 1927, Page 9

BURGLARS ARE BUSY

THREE BREAKS LAST NIGHT SUBURBAN STORES ARE HEAVY LOSERS CLOTHING AND TOBACCO TAKEN Last night two shops in Point Chevalier, and one in Grey Lynn, were broken into by burglars, and over £3O worth of goods were stolen. This is the most recent of a series of burglaries to take place in the city and suburbs during the last week. Owners of shops would be well advised to see that their premises are more securely locked. The shops which were visited by the thieves were as follows: Mrs. H. Sage, mercer, 50 Richmond Avenue, Grey Lynn, over £2O worth of goods. E. A. Hunter, stationer, Great North Road, Point Chevalier, over £ll worth of tobacco and goods. W. H. McKinney, chemist, adjoining Mr. Hunter, over £3 .. goods. A grocer’s store belonging to Mr. W. Sherer, also in the Great North Road, Point Chevalier, was attempted, but the lock proved too strong for the intruders. The burglars used a new suitcase in which to carry their haul away from Mrs. Gage's shop in Grey Lynn. Mrs. Gage was the heaviest loser. When she arrived at the shop this morning she found the floor littered with clothing from the shelves. An examination showed that a large quantity of goods was missing, including the suitcase, men’s trousers, many pairs of sox, a valuable velour overcoat, women’s stockings, and other male and female attire. Mrs. Gage has only recently started in business. Most of the clothing stolen was new stock, and had only just been opened. DOOR FORCED WITH JEMMY When a reporter called on Mrs. Gage she was straifhtening out the goods in her shop and replacing the clothing from the floor back on the shelves. There were many empty spaces. "The door was closed when I arrived here this morning,” she said, "and I couldn’t find some of the clothing which I display outside the door. Then I missed the suitcase and then some men’s wear. It was not long before I realised that burglars had paid me a visit” Mr. Hunter, at Point Chevalier, said that his heaviest loss was tobacco and cigarettes. The whole of his stock had been cleared. Two books and a watch were also stolen. Here again there were marks where the door had been forced with a jemmy. Mr. Hunter does not live on the premises, but on his arrival at the shop this morning he found the door open and papers strewn on the floor. Other goods had been knocked down. Next door, in the chemist shop of Mr. McKinney, a camera valued at £2 8s 6d, an electric torch valued at 7s 6d and a bottle of perfume valued at 4s 6d had been taken. Evidently the burglars had set out to “clean-up" several of the shops in Point Chevalier. DOOR TOO STRONG “My door was too strong for them,” remarked Mr. Sherej’. He said that there were marks on the door where the burglars had tried to force the lock. During this week burglars have been particularly active. On Monday night three shops were broken into — the Armidale Tearooms, Customs Street East, from which cigarettes were stolen: Mr. J. Hariand’s shop at the Mount Albert tram terminus, where a haul of £6 was made from the till; and Mr. D. Allcock’s shop in Grey Lynn, where the intruders secured £4O worth of smoking requisites. It is not known -whether an organised gang is scouring the city and suburbs, but it would seem so from the many shops which have been ett tered. The police are taking active steps to quell the activites of the burglars. It is the opinion of Superintendent Wohlmann that burgarlies come in waves and go hand in hand with times of financial stress. The burglaries now happening in Auckland were the result of the activities of “birds of passage.” The crime wave which had occurred in Christchurch and Wellington had now come to Auckland.