SHOP—LIFTING EVIL.

Taihape Daily Times, 11 September 1919, Page 5

SHOP—LIFTING EVIL.

COMPLAINTS IN DUNEDIN_ DUNEDIN, ‘Sept. 9. - Shop-lifting is a practice which seems ‘to enjoy discreditable popularity among a certain section of the people of Dunedin. The drapery estab—lishments are, of course, the chief suferers and a reporter was assured yesterday by the managers of several establishments that their losses in the way of mysterious disappearances run into several hundreds of pounds every year. Vvomen are by far the worst 01’fenders in this respect. “The worst feature of the whole business,” said one shopkeeper, who spoke very strongly of the evil, “is that many of these women bring their children with‘them as decoys. The ef-t'c-et on the child’s mind must be ruin ous in the extreme. One very frequently hears of men being Chal'g(!ai in thepolice. courts with being rogues and vagabonds, but to my mind many of these women are a great deal worse. By way of contras:t I may state that during a business experience extending over some 20 years I have havl only one cheque forged by a man and Z-we dishonoured.”_