CARGO PILLAGING.

Auckland Star, Volume LII, Issue 25, 29 January 1921, Page 7

CARGO PILLAGING.

LOSS MEANS MILLIONS.

SPECIAL POUCE AT WORK. HARD TO TRACE LEAKAGE. (By Cable.—Press Association.—Copyright.) (Received 10.30 a.m.) LONDON, January 2S. la his letter to the "Times" concerning the duff outlook for chipping, Lord liioaeage (chairman 01" the ±'. and O.) mentioned Uiat "tae thieving that goes on at sea and in the dockd is beyond anything known to history." This reference has once more called attention to the eerioua pilfering of overseas cargoes, which it is estimated causes a loss to the London merchants alone of over £3,000,000 a year. The Australian Press Association learns that the shipowners' lose in the Australian trade frequently amounts to £2,000 per shipper lor tue voyage. One company recently snowed that iis k-sses tnruugu pilfering were at the rate of £250,000 a year, 'lue owners say they are unable u> discover where the chief leakage takes place—whether tlie losses occur when the goods are in the hands of the shipping houses, the packers, the railways, the British dockers, or the Australian wharf labourers. They point out that pilfering by the crews oi the vessels carrying the cargo is negligible, and is easily distinguished from the expert methods used prior to shipping, by which the goods are taken from the cases, which are reclosed in such a manner as to defy detection.

The shipowners, in view of the heavy claims which have recently been made, have established, at a cost of £35,000 a year, a special force of plain clothes police for work in the London docks. The men are members of the Port of London police, but the shipowners pay the entire cost of their special work on board the ships that are being loaded. Mr H. C. H. Gosling, who is a member of the Port of London Authority and president of the Transport Workers' .federation and the Dockers' Union, approved of the scheme before it was inaugurated. He said he welcomed any project that would remove the stigma from the dockers.

It is not expected that the new police force will show results immediately, but already there has been an increase in the number of prosecutions for interfering with goods, and this is taken as a promising sign of the success of the scheme. The dockers have not raised any objection to the precautions that are being taken, and the owners are gratified. It is suggested that similar precautions should be taken at the overseas ports in the Dominions.— (A. and N.Z. Cable.)