OUR HARBOUR THIEVES.

Auckland Star, Volume XLII, Issue 152, 28 June 1911, Page 4

OUR HARBOUR THIEVES.

If nothing is done to check the systematic .plundering of -yachts and launches That has gone "on for years past in our harbour- Auckland,will soon gain an unenviable notoriety as the most lawless city in the. Dominion.. We are in full ..sympathy with the'demand that the law against theft and robbery shall be enforced as rigidly on the Waitemata 'Harbour as in Auckland City itself. For a long time the protests of yachtsmen and' motor launch 'owners',' and. their {representations to the police authorities as to the prevalence of thieving' in the - harbour and along the water.front seem; to have fallen On'deaf ears; and it. is high time that something practical was! done to cope with, this growing evil. Even if it costs £2000 to purchase and man a police launch 30 as to guard "effectually the large- amount of valuable private property now afloat in our harbour, the Department can hardly plead the expense as a ground for inaction. If it cost ten times as much to protect property, or to maintain the law in QueensBtreet, the money would have, to be ' found; and there is no legal or moral reason why- thieving on the harbour should go unpunished, .while far less serious breaches of the law on land are often heavily .penalized. Even if a police launch made the . rounds of the harbour.among the yachts every, hight it would l>e probably enough to check these depredations. At the same time it .is absolutely necessary to arrange for a regular patrol along the foreshore to seize stolen property when brought to land. This is a matter that does not concern the owners of yachts and launches alone. It is a question of tho vigorous and effective enforcement of tho law of the land; and we are glad to see that our members of Parliament are now actively co-operating with the yacht owners to force their grievances once more upon the reluctant notice of the Department' of Justice.