Pillaged Cargo Found on Arawa

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 403, 11 July 1928, Page 1

Pillaged Cargo Found on Arawa

BIG HAUL OF SILK BOOTY IN THE BUNKERS Piled in damp and melancholylooking heaps at the Wharf Police Station to-day is a collection of highly coloured silks, one of the biggest finds of pillaged cargo ever made on the Auckland waterfront. A total of 84 rolls was recovered, its approximate value being £SOO. The pillaged silk was found on the s.s. Arawa last night by DetectiveSergeant A. McHugh and Mr. R. Forman, acting marine superintendent at Auckland for the Shaw, Savill, and Albion Company. The pillaging on the Arawa, which arrived from Southampton last Thursday, had assumed alarming proportions, and it was with a view to clearing up some of the mystery attaching to these thefts that a patient search of the vessel’s bunkers was made. IN PIPE CASING Detective-Sergeant McHugh and Mr. Forman worked through the coal for four hours, but no clue was found until the detective broke open the wooden casing covering the insulation pipes running along the vessel’s side. Inside this was found a blanket, which was wrapped about a roll of silk. More casing was ripped away, and roll after roll of silk was discovered. Some of it was dress material, but a good deal was on consignment to a tie-making firm. The pillagers, in order to make their booty secure as possible, had taken the additional precaution of piling coal against the pipe cases. Further search was made to-day for the purpose of seeing if any trace could be found of other missing cargo.