ART GALLERY BURGLARY.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 172, 14 April 1908, Page 8

ART GALLERY BURGLARY.

ADDITIONAL PARTICULARS. ' ; SOME INTERESTING FACTS AND THEORIES. , , The police were busily, engaged yesterday searching for. a clue in connection with. the theft from the Academy of Fine "Arts in Ballance Street, between 5.30' p.m. on Saturday and 2.30 pim./on Sunday; of the ,valuable landscape..' ppintingVby';'. Mr. :/•&• W. Leader, It. A., presented, to tho .Gallery, last.- ycdr by Mrs.; W. 'B ; Rhodes. As is usual in calse of burglanos,' the.guardians of the'law; a'uid particularly', ,the ; members; of .the "detective branch',- li&*,c'bcen; inundated- tolead .to'.°tho'.'present'.'location-.of :tlie painting.•No.Arrest has • sb'.'far-'-beeii- made,\arid; as the police !.make it 1 a, point., not to -..divulge.; how far ..'they- liaye 'carried', their' invpstigatioii's," it is .unknown ivliethor: any .clue .which-- hiay load tothe, discivcry. ' of', the . culprit,-;: has - "been detected. > .-.pi' - :. J:' -, -As-was jointed Qut iii yesterday's issue, the thief .used' a -back, .window■ : as ":a---'means•>of ingress', and."',egress.'-:!' .'lf it, ,b6 true, : as.,is reported, that a-visitor-to tlio building yesterday; morning .fqund .that'.>ho.;. could■.■■force one .of the. doors' withoutmuch ■ difficulty, tho burglar,-if'-hei bad:made a moro- careful inspection ;of the door in-question}' need riot have' gone-'to-'.eo. much--trouble- to-'gain an : > entrance. ! • -. : 1 lien, '. again," tnorg' diligent s'criitiiiy •stillwould''-have- brought to his knowlodgo tho • fact; that- tlid ' key ; of ; the V'front door was'hahgirigiii: its customary.place .outside, and'"he might have entered in - the orthodox , itanner. I .'' . ' .

. Tho tools left behind in. the'ante-room wero of a vory ordinary .kind, exactly the" roverso of .what a l'ighly-skilled burglar would make use of, excepting -for!'the purpose of leaving them behind.'as a.,(.'.'blind." - They consisted of a rusty • brace, 'without: bit, a "idmiriy'' of . common- 'pattern,' and ■ a . da:rk' knterri, grimy with smoke. Whatever the object of the thief in bringing them on to the "job," one thing is cortain, and that is that- the two first .mentioned articles 1 at any rate wore neither required nor-used. , I That the robbery was'not the work of afeeble, person .is .evident, for the picture, which, \vas hung -at.'a fair height, was of consideraole from. tho.undamaged condition of .the frame it. would, appear thatit: ..was'': carefully' handled. ', As has: already been mentioned, the 'canvas, was removed intact from . the frame/ ' It was, of- course, capable of heing rolled up in; scroll fashion, and, therefore, would go into small compass. •There are no, indications! tli.it the thief .was disturbed, ?nd it-would' seem that' any adult not possessed l of .'special qualifications could have, effected the robbery.

It is 'hardly;conceivable that the culprit intends -to' try, and dispose of .the painting within the Dominion, or, indeed, in the Colonies, because his guilt !would be' detected immediately,. as the picture, which was exhibited prenously ,'at the late ..New. .Zealand Exhibition, must- be. familiar-to'tens of thousands of residents',in, this, part' of ■ the world. • : THE STOLEN PICTURE. ' The Leader ..picture, which has been stolon from - the Art y Gralleryj was . the property, of the Mayor, and City: Council,. to :!w"h'om, on behalfof the" citizensTi of Wellington, it was presented by Mrs. Rhodes, the lady, howov.er,. reserving; /a- life interest 'in the painting.' The object of.'giving; it to the City. Council instead of to any local art society ivas to..ensure its:iijermanonti possession. .■ 'An art!. society, ■ said. Mrs.. Rhodes, might at any .time cease t-oV.exist, but. thero! would always bo a City.v Council, who could hold possession. . ■■ v ■ ' , When'' tho last' art exhibition was Jield, the pictures in tho Gallery wore moved to a room -in' the.'Railway '. Buildings, to make way; for tho. temporary., exhibits,'' and! Mrs. Rhodes-at that time protested that such a transfer might result in. injury 'to the valuable .Leader.! " .' In tho. Academy 'pictures, of, the year,' .in which the picture was exhibited,, there is a fine full page photogravure of it'under tho erroneous title of' " Sunset after Rain." Tho. picture, was insured against fire. ' Civilisation; which started, from Asia and moved westwards,' spread • over Europe and thence to America. It has now returned I to - itsstarting point.—"Kokumin/' Tokio. . •