PILLAGING OF CARGO.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 163, 9 January 1914, Page 8

PILLAGING OF CARGO.

DIS.WI'KAIiS I'iiOil AUCKLAND. NKW WATKIISIDK UNTOX'S GOOD WO UK. Jiv TeJeyrapli.—Press Association. Auckland, Last Night. Until recently a number of cases of cavfjo-piHiigiii" were reported to the police every week. Tliey generally numbered from ten to twenty. Sinee the new waterside workers commenced operation-, two months ago, not one case of pillaging lias been reported. This information was obtained to-day as a result of inquiry being made among the water police, the stevedores, and the shipping companies.

j Detect ive (.'ouriey, who attends to I waterfront complaints, said that for a long time piwimi s to the recent strike the waterfront police had had to deal with what was practically an organised 1 system of thieving. The wharves had to be watched continuously, but in spite of this large quantities of goods disappeared. Bottled liquors, articles of clothing and boots ahva_\s found favor in their cyo.s, and in spite of the closest supervision some of them contrived to get away with these goods. They preyed particularly upon the property'of boot importers; Cases which contain boots have n distinctive shape, and a watersider would know when one wj# burst open "accidentally" that it wo»'i not contain ploughs, pianos, or anything that could not be readily carried off. Detective (lonrley said th.it although severe punishenient was Dieted out to the thieves when they weri> discovered, the crime was peculiarly difficult to detect. Only a few men systematically pillaged cargo, hut a very large number were "in the know." The latter, however, would never give the nolice or the stevedores any assistance, and in recent years the practice had grown to large dimensions. i The police had been nleasod to notice, added ihe detective, that the new union was determined to discourage this class of crime. Although was so difficult to lav pillagers by the heels, their identity wa-> well known, aft! these suspects were among the men who were being refused inembi'i'ship by the new union. The result was a. total disappearance of cargo-broaching from the Auckland waterfroui. The union officials bad signified their readiness to act with tho police in discouraging the objectionable practice, and ;■ s they liad exceptional opportunities of getting information and had power to eject undesirable persons from the union a I anv time, the police hoped that in future oargo-uillaging would be reduced to a minimum. The, membership list of the union is now always open to police inspection, an innovation which will assist in snfegiarding the interests of importers.