CARGO BROACHED

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 171, 22 July 1941, Page 5

CARGO BROACHED

i' H COASTAL PILLAGING j DUNEDIN'S HEAVY LOSSES | (0.C.) DUNEDIN, this day. Investigations show that losses through pillaging of cargo have in- ; creased during the war period, and . that while some may take place under blackout conditions in Britain a considerable amount of pillaging [ occurs on the New Zealand coast. 1' A big importing firm received a ?jcase containing barometers for- • warded from a London firm. Prior

fto its arrival the importers received a letter from the firm stating thatj the factory had been badly bombed two or three days before the ship-j ment was to be made. With con-| siderable difficulty the Dunedinj order was filled. When the case was opened, it was discovered that 11 barometers had been removed from : their containers, which had been filled with paper and replaced. Gloves From England | Another firm was pleased when! 1 two cases of gloves arrived froml ( J England, for gloves are in short!, i supply. One case had been so badly j* ; pillaged that only one or two pairs! were left in it. The same firm re-r i ceived a case which, the invoice' - stated, contained 144 powder corny " pacts. When the case was opened;' , the firm received four, and the pil-l 1 lagers had taken 140. j" Not a week goes by in which some;; cases of pillaging are not reported in!. IDunedin, and the loss must run into;, a considerable sum of money. Cases; and cartons travelling between;' Dominion ports are frequently dam- ' aged—whether accidentally or pur-!; posely cannot be determined—and; portions of their contents removed. ! Slippers, shoes, chocolates, cigar-, ettes, wearing apparel, ornaments., bottled and tinned goods, and soap, are among the most regularly pil-i fered goods. A firm which manu-: factures slippers in Dunedin has lost, •about 60 pairs in shipments between iDunedin and northern ports in five months. A consignment of cigar-, 'ettes which arrived from Wellington recently had been seriously pilfered,! and the firm received less than thej pilferers. ' , Chocolates and Beer [ Many boxes of chocolates go miss-, jing. There have also been frequenti linstances of barrels of beer arriving practically empty. One method of removing the beer is to hammer up ithe top hoop, drive a hole into the j barrel where the hoop was. and then draw off as much beer as is wanted. The hole is then plugged and the hoop tapped back Into position so ithat no trace of tampering is apparent.