PILLAGED CARGO

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 244, 16 July 1928, Page 8

PILLAGED CARGO

BIGGEST LOSS YET RECORDED £BOO WORTH OF SILK STOLEN Dominion Special Service. Auckland, July 15. “Business firms who have been affected by the pillaging of cargo consigned to them regard this as a mild disaster,” said Mr. A. J. Weir, manager of the Parisian Neckwear Company, whose firm lost £BOO worth of silks on the last voyage of the Arawa from London to Auckland. Out of 22 cases of silk placed on board the Arawa at London consigned to the Parisian Neckwear Company at Auckland, only 17 were found to be intact when the shipment was examined at Auckland on the arrival of the vessel the other day. The missing five cases, lined with zinc and measuring 3ft. 6in. square, have not yet been found by the police despite a careful search. It is remarkable that not a trace of either the zinc or the cases has been discovered, and it is presumed that the cases after pillage must have been burned in the furnaces. Many of the 84 rolls of silk discovered buried in coal on the Arawa were badly damaged. Curtains of green colour with hooks sewn into the material and other cloth which resembled ship’s .fittings were used to drap the rolls of silk to protect them fyom damage by coal. The material pillaged is estimated to be worth £BOO. About £2OO worth has been recovered by the police.

“Out of eight recent shipments consigned to my firm, five were heavily pillaged,” said Mr. Weir. “We lost £BO in one shipment and £6O worth of silk in another, while the others averaged about £2O worth of goods. This last case of pillage on the Arawa is easily the biggest yet recorded in the Dominion. Although the silks were insured, the loss to us is large because of the inconvenience caused. Even if the silk mills were cabled today for further orders, it would be nearly six months before we could get delivery.” ________