CARGO PILFERING.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1662, 31 January 1913, Page 6

CARGO PILFERING.

REDUCED TO A FINE ART.' According to a prominent Sydney'importer, cargo-pillaging is greatly on the increase (says the Sydney. "Daily Telegraph").; The case was instanced of a steamer 'which arrived in Melbourno recently with over .£IOOO worth of goods missing from a consignment, and the opinion was expressed that, without doubt, the goods were stolen at.tho port at which they were placed on board the steamer, and'possibly before they left the crinsignv pr's bands. In the majority of cases, it? was stated, the pillaging does not take place at tho port to which the. goods are sent, .since the facilities for opening tho cases at tho latter place are not so great as they are at tho port of shipment. To so'fine on art havo the thieves who specialise in stealing, from ship's cargoes reduced their work that in many cases it is impossible to tell whether a packago has been'opened until its contents are checked with Uie invoice. Nails are drawn .'without leaving.the' slightest mark, replaced with tho same, care, and zinc linings • which have been cut are pinched •up again iirsuch a way as to almost.defy detection until the. closest examination is made. Pillaging on the Sydney . wharves, he added, mostly takes place when a case has been, so roughly handled that .it breaks open and the contents are spilled. Then it is a common thing, for nearlythe whole of the contents to disappear. Some time ago tho suggestion was mado by a firm in oydney that.the oversea and inter-State shipping companies should employ, on each steamer a man .who would sign on as an ordinary member of tho crew, act in collusion with any others of the'crew who were engaged in cargobroaching, and'subsequently report to tho captain, or his employers. It is believed that ''this would go a long way towards putting down tho practice, but so far the suggestion has not been acted upon.