The Daily News. FRIDAY, JUNE 18, 1920. PILLAGING RAMPANT.

Taranaki Daily News, 18 June 1920, Page 4

The Daily News. FRIDAY, JUNE 18, 1920. PILLAGING RAMPANT.

The pillaging of goods in transit from the manufacturers to the retailers has not only become rampant, but has developed into a fine art. It is possible that the public do -not realise that they have to bear the losses due to this iniquitous practice, as all losses and extra charges for insurance against losses are passed on to the consumers. It has been ascer tained beyond question that from the time goods leave the manufacturers they are subjected to aa apparently systematised process of thieving until the empty, or partially empty, cases reach the retailers' hands. In America there are evidently expert gangs of robbers at work, and they are able to gain information which enables them to operate oil cases containing the most valuable goods. The goods would arrive at the docks too late to be removed to sheds, and as a result the robbers are able to get hold of them, take them to their operating house during the night, and with an electrical apparatus draw the nails in the lids and remove the contents, and then fill up the cases with bricks. No trace of th".nails having been drawn was to be found, not even with the aid of a microscope. Further pillaging takes place at times on board ship; then again on the wharves in New Zealand, as well as in the holds of the vessels. It has been noticed that as the prices of such commodities as tea and tobacco have advanced in price, there has been a corresponding increase in the number of thefts of these articles, either on the ship or on the wharves, yet it rarely happens that the culprits are detected, even when getting away with a seventy pound bag of sugar. It is estimated that from five vessels at "Wellington between November 26 and January 17 there was abstracted a total of nearly seventeen tons of sugar, without a single instance of detection. According to a statement recently made by the chairman of the Auckland Importers' Protection Committee (Mr. Robert Burns)' £7OO worth of goods had been lost during the last six months. An Auckland importer has stated that the whole contents of a case containing sparking plugs had been'removed and replaced with marble slabs of a correspondin'g weight, there being no marks on the case to suggest it had been tampered with. From another case tools to the value of £SOO had been abstracted, and bricks substituted to make up the weight. A soft goods firm lost £2OO in six months, the missing goods being feathers, hosiery and men's underclothing. Another firm also suffered heavy losses, in one instance fourteen coats, valued at £l5O, being missing. This firm found that pillaging was very bad on the "West Coast of the South Island. The theft of boots is apparently very extensive on the New Zealand coast, especially in the South. These are only a few samples of losses through pilfering, whhh has become the bete noir of the importers and retailers. The extent to which this pilfering is bt>ing carried on has become beyond toleration, and there is a consensus of opinion that effective steps should be devised to catch and deal with the culprits. It will be no easy task to defeat these depredators, inasmuch as all goods would have to be closely and incessantly watched from the time of packing until they reach their final destination. It is quite evident, liowever, that both on the ships and the wharves closer supervision could and should be given over goods in transit. The impunity with which these depredations are committed can hardly be understood unless there is either culpable laxity or connivance on the part of the officials in charge of the _ ships and wharves, though it is inconceivable that such should be the case. It would seem to be necessary for Parliament to take this evil into consideration, not only to protect +he consignee®! but the public as

well, for the high cost of commodities is being aggravated by these losses. Steps could also be taken to extend the liabilities of the shipping companies and prevent them safeguarding themselves by special provisions in the bills of lading. The matter is one in which the Waterside "Workers' Union eould be of much help by co-operating with the importers and shippers in repressiag pillaging. It is not to be expected that the evil will be totally eradicated, but every effort should be made to reduce it to a minimum.