CARGO PILLAGE

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 270, 13 August 1942, Page 6

CARGO PILLAGE

Said To Be More Prevalent Than In Last War INSURANCE EXECUTIVE’S COMMENTS “Indirectly, the war is helping the. pilferer,” said the marine executive of one of the largest insurance companies' in Wellington' yesterday. “Everything is tending to make it easier for a man, bent on acquiring goods in an illicit manner, to gain his end.” Shipping difficulties, he said, meant that cargo often lay about the wharf awaiting loading for a considerable time, and there was insufficient supervision to ensure its safety. This applied both at ports overseas and round the coast of the Dominion. The goods most prone to suffer seemed to be articles.of apparel, hosiery, gloves, women’s underwear, boots and shoes, and suchlike. In the last war a method of avoiding pillage of cases of boots was adopted. They were packed so that each case contained only those for one foot, lefts in one and rights in another; so that the complementary cases had to be found and opened before the pilferer could get a true pair. This did not seem to have been done on this occasion.

“Pillage was serious in the last war,” he said, "'but it is even more 'serious now. In the 1914-1918 period a ‘75 per cent, clause’ was written into policies. This meant that the, insurance brokers only undertook to recompense the. insurer for 75 per cent, of the loss, suffered, and as a result those responsible for the transit and care of the goods tended to exercise more care and supervision. The practice now is different; a surcharge is made on the premium, and this covers the special risks entailed through the war, including damage by water while awaiting shipment as well as pillage. “There are now, of course, no such things as the protective metal-lined cases which used to 'be common. Indeed, there is an increasing use of cartons, which makes the way of the pilferer easier. Shipping companies refuse to give clean acceptance for car-ton-packed goods, and will only sign for them as insufficiently packed, accepting thereby no liability for safety.

“A factor which makes the determination of claims very difficult is the pressure under which Customs agents are working today. The carrier has not the time to spare for careful examination of each case as reecivecbat the wharf. The formalities attendant on the rejection of cases take time which cannot be spared. Thus he will take without question cases which at other times would have been marked into the examination shed and opened before acceptance. . “Some of the cases of pillage are extremely irritating. Only recently one of our clients imported a seamless leather machinery belt, a most expensive item. It was packed on its own iu a case. Some pilferer had taken out a board, and, thinking merchandise lay behind the leather he saw showing, he cut right through it. The belt was useless.

“It would be most interesting,” the executive concluded, “if the shipping companies would divulge, from their records, the proportion of cases pillaged to the number carried. That yvould show clearly the extreme prevalence of cargo pillage.”