CRIME IN AUSTRALIA.

Taihape Daily Times, 14 August 1919, Page 2

CRIME IN AUSTRALIA.

RAIDING HOUSES A-ND "SHOPS. DAYLIGHT ATTACK ON BANK. -SYDNEY, July 28. An extraordinary irrcrea.se‘ in tire 1-_um‘t-er of thefts and robb3-nos 1:.-ts been reported to the police in Sydney and Melbourne. Houses are being robbed, husiness establishvnents broken into, and people accosted by foofpads at night, to an extent not hzthrrto known in the country. The raids on dwellings are the most nunrerc-1.3 and the most irritating. The operators carry off all sorts of small articles which, at the best they can pawn for only -a. shilling or tw). Wa:s}l- - icft on the line overnight, disappears; so do milkjugs, left 01 the doorstep for the early milkman, to leave any kind of removeabl-1 :11"(ic1e in .-4 motor car in the street is simp y fl_y:ng in the face of provident: _

The police «and watchmen are vu~_;' alert, and almost every werk surpxise t1.~.i(-x as at work somewhere; but _t‘m trouble goes on. A household, returning from a week’s holiday will find the house cleared of all small articles; but in one recent case ‘the piano was taken. Gangs of men, working with a motor car from a back lane, will clear out *the. contents of a small shop during tllo week-end. Twice lately, once in Manly and once in tlle city here, -a boot shop lms been cleaned out in this way.

The police sa§'r—'that most of the petty thieving is being done by boys, of from thirteen to eighteen years of age. They are not driven -by necessity, and generally squanderv their gains foolishl_y_ This appearande of (Lawlvssness «among young boys is said to be a peculiar psychological eifect. of war that has been noticed in many countries.

More ambitious ithieving was represented in an :Itte”llTl')'t to rob 21 branch bank in a Sydney main «s‘tree‘t. on Peace Day. Everyone was away watching the" pageants, and tlle burglars broke through the dwelling portion of the place. They reached "the door connecting with the bzlnk,Land Very unscientifically chipped Rhole through it. When, however, tlfey found two steel plates beyond the door, barring their further way, they got discouraged and left. They at least were the real’ bank robbers; they took notlxing frmn the dwelling from which they were operating.