SEASON OVER.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 21, 26 January 1939, Page 14

SEASON OVER.

POCKET-PICKING. OPERATORS DISAPPEAR. PUBUCXTY NOT LIKED. The open season for pickpockets hns now apparently ended. "Feather-finger" Barry and his kin have gone •' into hibernation. More Of them ilinn usual were active in Auckland this holiday reason, it seemed, from the number of cases rcI>orted over the Christinas-New Year |»eriod. Several people notified the police of losses tip to £15. j Paradoxically, however, the early i 1 >00 in enjoyed by the light-fingered gentlemen was in part the cause of a flump which followed. Pickpockets don't like publicity, but publicity ia What they got. As soon as the first crop of eases 1 occurred at Christmas time, when Auckland streets were thronged with shoppers and racegoers and thin offered a lucrative field, the activities of the thieves were brought into the limelight, with the result that the public were amply warned to be careful where they carried their valuables. Watches were firmly anchored to vest buttonholes, wallet* were stowed away in inside pockets, people were wary .of strangers who jostled them in fttfeeta and tramcars. The pickpocket hutfiMalß weilt, comparatively speaking, into tfce doldrums. v.... • ■In a way. however,; the opftfratiges Were rather lucky, for very few of them were apprehended. Apparently they moved on to Wellington and other southern centre* after attempting to "work' Auckland, and, after a few cases had been reported, they seemed to disappear altogether. Until this summer, pocket-picking had not been very prevalent in Auckland for several yeans. There was a time when number* of Australian experts in the trade lined to travel across the Tasman to Auckland in the holiday season, but close surveillance kept tlieir activities in check.