NO THIEVES LIKE CHINAMEN

Waikato Argus, Volume VI, Issue 434, 13 May 1899, Page 2 (Supplement)

NO THIEVES LIKE CHINAMEN

' There are no thieves in the world more expert than Chinamen,' said an English gentleman who lirb lately returned from the ' Flowery Land,' and who some time ago was for years connected with the London police administration. • Let mo,' he continued, * give you two case 3in which I personally was concerned to show you what a cool thief Ah Sin is. I was giving a dinner party the table was decorated with silver plate, and heavy oandlesticks and candles furnished the necessary light. We were all chatting pleasantly, when, as quickly as I can tell it, long bamboos stretched through the blinds and over our heads, and in an instant the candles were out, for the thieves had blown hard through hollow bamboos. At the same moment there was a rush in the darkness ; hazy forms came through the open windows, tearing the blinds aside, and in a moment half a dozen natives, each with some articles of silver plate, were racing through the darkness. Only one was caught, and we never gotauy of the plate back.

* In the other esse I was continually losing poultry out of a yard with a very high wall. After much watching my son found a Chinaman placidly fishing for the fowls. He had a long stick, a line, and a hook baited with some dainty a>< the end of it. He had hooked one bird, wrung it neck, and had put it carefully in a bag before he was surprised. 1 could tell you some instances of Chinese skill at pocket-picking and other forms of theft that would astound you.'