WAVE OF BURGLARY.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XLVII, Issue 10888, 7 April 1927, Page 2

WAVE OF BURGLARY.

SIX MORE IN AUCKLAND.

THEORY AS TO THE CAUSE. AUCKLAND, April 6. Burglary continues rife an Auckland, and to-day six more cases were reported. Most of the burglaries are occurring in the suburbs, and while the individual losses are not assessed, as a rule above £SO, the losses in the aggregate are quite considerable. Discussing the epidemic of crime, Superintendent Wohlmann said. "Crime against property goes hand-in-hand with times of financial stress. _ It comes in waves, and when there, is an increase in theft there is a decrease in drunkenness and offences attributable to insobriety." Superintendent Wohlmann remarked that extensive unemployment always drove the weaker members of the community to seek comfort or luxury by a life of crime. Prosperity was heralded by more drinking and attendant violence, while burglary decreased. Burglary, such as was now prevalent ni Auckland, was generally the work of "birds of passage" who "worked" a city until vigilance threatened them. At the end of last year there had been an epidemic of burglary in Auckland, said the Superintendent. It had died out after a few weeks and had recurred in Wellington and Christchurch in turn; Arrests had been made in the South, and there was again a lull in the activities of the thieves. The crime wave had now returned to Auckland.