CAR THEFTS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 305, 27 December 1939, Page 9

CAR THEFTS.

IN NEW SOUTH WALES.

MAJORITY REGAINED.

GANGS ARE' OPERATING,

(From Our Own Correspondent.)

SYDNEY, December 21

This year 2242 motor cars and lorries, valued at £380,984, were stolen in New South Wales, but 98 per cent of them was recovered by the police. Of 342 motor cycles, valued at £19,623, which were stolen, 87 per cent was recovered.

Tkese figures auggest that, while expert inter-State gangs are known to be operating in the stealing and stripping of cars, most of the thieves are joyriders. Many of the thieves have been mere children of from 14 to 16 years, and, unfortunately, a good many of thorn have left a trail of accidents, the result of their reckless hit-run driving.

The police have been trying for some tiino to obtain legislation compelling garage owners to notify them when they" rent their garages. At present it is easy for a professional car thief to rent a private garage in some suburb and quietly strip a stolen car at his leisure.

An instance of this was the case of a man who had stolen a car and was being pursued by a police patrol. He drove the car into a private garage, and when his pursuers had passed went to the householder and asked if he could hire the garage, stating that he was going to England to witness the Coronation of King George VI. When, nearly a year later, he had not returned, the houo»holder thought he would do his tenant a good turn, to prevent trouble from the traffic police, by returning the number plates of the car. The police immediately recognised the number as that of a stolen car, and went out and recovered what was left of it, but the thief, of course, was never caught.

Car Radio Problem. As car radios become more popular, they have created another problem to worry the police. They are very easily stolen, and very difficult to identify. Police are still mildly surprised by |he number of drivers who tempt thieves by leaving their keys in the ignition switch, which, incidentally, is an offence. No ignition device, however, will stop « really determined thief. There are just about as many sedans stolen as roadsters.

One case is known in which an owner had padlocked his car to a tree outside his home with a chain through one of the front wheels. Thieves jacked up the car, took the wheel off, put the spare on and drove away. One family had only one ride in a car to obtain which the whole household had saved every penny they could. They left their car outside their home the first night and never saw it again.