THEFT AT STATION.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 55, Issue 130, 14 March 1935, Page 3

THEFT AT STATION.

OFFENCE AT W.H'ANGAREI. (Special to the "Guardian.") AUCKLAND, March 13. Further details of the theft at the Whangarei railway station last Friday, when £IOB IDs 9d was taken from the safe in the booking office, show that the thief must have displayed considerable daring.

As is the usual practice every fortnight, the wages for the maintenance men working at the staions between Hikurangi and Otiria were drawn from the bank on Friday morning. In the afternoon the money was enclosed in pay envelopes for the men and placed in a brief bag, which was locked and sealed and put in the safe 'ready to be dispatched by train for the north the next morning. Early in the evening the contents of the safe were checked and everything was found to be in order. Officials of the Railway Department were working about the station building until the arrival of the late train from Auckland at 11.8. Mr L. C. Lucas, the clerk on duty, paid wages to one of the staff who arrived by the Auckland train, and then closed, but did not lock, the door of the safe. Mr Lucas then proceeded to attend to his duties which included clearing parcels from the van of the train and transferring them to the parcels office at the station building. The platform was fully lighted, and there was a street light at the rear of the station building The theft was all the more daring in" view of the fact that the doorway giving direct entrance to the booking office was locked, and the safe could be approached only through the door of the tablet office, about 20 yards from where the clerk was working. On returning to the booking office about midnight, preparatory to locking up for the night, Mr Lucas found that the bag containing the wages was missing. Only a portion of the cash contained in the safe was taken, other wages and cash amounting to a considerable sum being untouched. The money taken comprised one pound notes and silver.