"BEWARE SNEAK THIEVES."

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 10, 13 January 1926, Page 8

"BEWARE SNEAK THIEVES."

ACTIVITIES IN MOUNT EDEN. The. Christmas holidays always provide a fruitful harvest for sneak thieves— those light-fingered gentry whose activities range from robbing the clothes lines to ransacking the outbuildings. The unwelcome attentions of these "hardy annuals" have already teen felt in, a number of homes, and holiday-makers have returned to lament their carelessness in leaving articles about. One particularly daring individual spent a successful morning at Mount Eden yesterday, and not content with taking ihe family washing he also annexed a handbag in which to carry his plunder. Early morning visitations upon the family milk can at residences where the occupants leave the weekly milk bill on the doorstep, have been made, and amounts up to f 1 have been taken. Yesterday morning a lady noticed a young ihan entering a house, and after a while he reappeared with a bag. and disappeared down the road. It was later found that he 'had taken the whole of the family washing that had been accumulating over the holidays. His booty included night dresses, shirts, socks, and even the occupants' silk hose. The modus operandi of this particular man should serve as a warning. He usually selects a house that appears empty, and after knocking and obtaining no response he loses no time in making an entry. At one house he found the lady at home, , but glibly asked if "Mr. Jones" lived there. It will be awkward -for that "young man when he finds a house where there is a "Mr. Jones" residing.