RAZOR-SLASHING.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 50, Issue 196, 2 June 1930, Page 6

RAZOR-SLASHING.

THE AUCKLAND OUTRAGE. DRAPER’S STOCK DESTROYED. (Special to the “Guardian.”) AUCKLAND, May 31. A sensation was caused in Eden Ter- ' race early last evening when the news went round that a razor-slasher had been at work. All sorts of wild rumours were about, but the fact of ;the case was that a quantity of clothing and other articles displayed outside a draper’s shop had been wantonly destroyed by some individual with a razor. . The “victim” of the attack was Mr B. Spitz, who keeps a family outfitter’s shop on the eastern side of Eden Terrace, near the junction with Dominion Road. Mr Spitz received his first intimation that something was amiss when a little girl ran into the shop and informed him that a lot of the articles were in ribbons. Rushing outside, he found a crowd of people round the shop, many of them asking 1 questions as to why the proprietor should display •articles that were almost worthless. Overcoats, pairs of trousers, pyjama suits, cardigan jackets and lengths of towelling were hanging from the hooks where they had been placed earlier in the day; but many of the articles had 1 been cleanly slashed. No one in the crowd seemed to know anything about the affair, and Mr Spitz at once got in touch with the police. When stock was taken of the damage this morning it was found that three men’s overcoats, two pairs of trousers, eight lengths of towelling, two pairs of pyjamas, two pairs of dungarees, two boys’ cardigans and a man’s woollen pullover had been slashed. The majority of the articles had been displayed-around a corridor leading to the showroom at the rear of the shop. The cuts in every case had been made with a downward sweep. That the perpetrator had been intent on doing damage that could not easilv be repaired was obvious from the fact that several of the articles were ripped in two or three places. Some of the rents . were as long as two feet, and in all cases, according to Mr Spitz, repairs are out of the question. The cost price of the articles was between £lO and £ll. The stock was put outside the shop when it was opened in the morning, and at half-past seven in the evening everything was ip order. Customers kept' Mr Spitz and his staff busy inside the shop for the next hour or so, and it is believed that the attack was made between a quarter to 4ight and a ouarter past. The suggestion that boys might have been responsible for the attack is discredited by Mr Spitz,.as the greater number of the articles were hanging above the doorway, and only a. person of more than average height could have reached them, even If armed with a blade razor. The windows of the shop were well lighted and there were also lights outside, but it would haye been comparatively easy for the miscreant to accomplish his ends -under the pretence of examining the stock. "Whoever was responsible for the slashing, however, took some risk of detection, as there is always a big crowd in the shopping area of Eden Terrace on Friday night. ‘“I have no idea who could be responsible, but I will give a reward to anyone who supplies me with a clue,” said Mr Spitz to-day. “1 have never had a quarrel in my life,” he added.