Titirangi Store and Post Office Robbed

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 836, 3 December 1929, Page 1

Titirangi Store and Post Office Robbed

MOTOR-CAR STOLEN

MAILS TAMPERED WITH Breaking into the building which acts as combined store, post office and tea-rooms at Titirangi last Wednesday evening, thieves stole goods valued at between £4O and £SO and ransacked the mail. Not content with that, they carried their booty away in the motor-car belonging to the proprietor of the establishment, Mr. W. A. Bishop. The building which was entered is situated on the site where the Hotel Titirangi is now being built by the Hotel Titirangi Company. The old store and tea-rooms were owned formerly by Mr. Bishop, who has been retained by the present company in the capacity, of managex - . The building was burgled about a year ago. Since then Mr. Bishop has taken the precaution to have the place guarded. A youth, armed with a revolver, sleeps on the premises every night. AWAY FOR THE NIGHT Owing to the rain last Wednesday, the youth’s bed became saturated with water and Mr. Bishop told him to go home to sleep that night, to avoid discomfort. Mr. Bishop lives in a house alongside the store, but heard nothing during the night. Next morning, when the store was opened, it was found that it had been entered. The entire stock of tobacco and cigarettes was stolen and a considerable quantity of groceries removed. The whole store had been turned upside down. The mail in the postoffice section had been ransacked and letters were lying around the floor and on the desks, apparently left while the thieves were looking for money and postal notes. The damage to stock and groceries is estimated to be in the vicinity of between £4O and £SO. Not content with pillaging the store, the thieves removed Mr. Bishop’s car which was garaged beneath the store and carried their booty away in it. This is the third occasion on which the store has been entered, and it has been for that reason that it has been so closely guarded. It is considered by the police that the fact that the robbery occurred on the very night that the armed guard was absent is conclusive proof that the place had been watched for some time by the thieves, who were aware of the change of plans last Wednesday. So far, no trace has been found of the missing car.