CARGO-BROACHING.

Taranaki Daily News, 31 January 1921, Page 5

CARGO-BROACHING.

< | r- ■ MILLIONS LOST YEARLY. By TeJegraph.-rPreM Assn —-Copyright London, Jan. 28 Lord. 'lnchoape-s letter has revived attention to the serious pilfering among overseas cargoes r which it is estiniated cauaeh loss in London alone of over three millions yearly. The: Australian Press Association is informed by shipowners that Australian trade lowes frequently amount to £2OO sterling per shipper per voyage One company recently showed pilfering losses at the rate of a quarter of a million sterling per annum. Owners are unable to locate the chief leakage among shipping houses, packers, railways, British dockers and Australian wharf laborers They point out that the pilfering by the crews is negligible and easily differentiable from the expert methods used prior to shipment by which repacked pilfered cases are undetectable.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. FURTHER HEAVY LOSS. Received Jan. 29, 5.5 p.m. London, Jan. 28. At the Old Bailey, a stevedore was sentenced to twelve months’ hard labor for pilfering from a Cunard liner in the Thames. Two ships’ firemen were sentenced to four months’ and a third to six months on a charge of receiving stolen goods It was stated pilfering in the Black Sea service ■ during the last twelve months amounted to over £20,000. — Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.

SPECIAL POLICE AT DOCKS. London, Jan. 28. London shipowners, in view of heavy claims, have recently established at a cost of £35,000 per’annum a , special, plain-clothes police force for work at the London docks. The members of the force belong to the port police, but the shipowners pay the entire cost of flieir special work aboard ships. Mr. Gosling, of the Dockers’ Union, approved the scheme prior to its inauguration. declaring that he would welcome any project which would remove the stigma from the dnclcers. The force is not expected to begin to show results immediately, but already increasing prosecutions are promising success. The dockers have not raised difficulties. Australian owners are gratified and the overseas committee has adopted a similar scheme at Australian ports.— Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.