CARGO PILLAGING

Evening Post, Volume XCIX, Issue 135, 8 June 1920, Page 8

CARGO PILLAGING

MORE EFFECTIVE CHECKS

ADVOCATED

LOSSES ULTIMATELY PAID BY

THE PUBLIC

IS THERE COLLUSION?

In the greater number of cases the thieves in New Zealand ports content themselves with making a selection from " ullaged " goods—i.e., goods scattered or in plain view through the operations of broachers elsewhere; but there is no lack of evidence that broaching is far too common on New Zealand's waterfront. The broacher may not always do his work deliberately in a quiet corner, for au "accidental" fall of a. case is easily staged. There is no direct evidence of organised gang thieving in New Zealand ports, as is reported to be the case in many oversea- ports, nor is there direct proof that the thieves work with" the knowledge and connivance of their supervisors, but allegations are freely made by police and shipping officials that foremen and watchmen fail in their duty in reporting cases of thieving which come under their notice. Police inspections of holds of certain vessels are frequently made during lunch and tea hours, and goods are found "planted " in the most unlikely places. The finds are handed over to ships' officers or to Customs officials. A second search on the same day often brings to light more goods " planted " against a propitious moment for their being taken ashore.

Except in comparatively rare instances, offenders are caught red-handed with the stolen goods. in their possession, or they go seotfree; but as the majority of the cases which axe reported are nob brought to the notice of the officials until it is too late for effective action the thieves walk calmly ashore. It is the usual.practice following the arrest of a thief or suspect for the police to carry out a search of his residence, and in many cases plain evidence of long periods of thieving, extending over months, has been found. These searches have made it clear that the thief is not without sympathy, for it has been found many times that others in the accused's house or lodgings have been made acquainted of his arrest and the probability of a police search before the searchers arrive. In one recent case the relatives of the accused man arrived at the police station' within a few minutes of the locking up of the man, and before the police had set out to carry out their search.

"PASSING IT ON."

There is, the reporter was informed, a aystem of " passing it on," even when packages are noticed to have been pillaged, which renders the detection of the offenders still more difficult. Once a case of goods has been landed from a ship and a "clean receipt" received in acknowledgment, the responsibility of the ship ceases, and so^on, step by step, till the goods reach the" 1 consignee, and are found to have been pillaged. It is alleged that certain ships' officers have countenanced the patching up of plainly broken cases in the ships' holds in order to obtain the desirable "clean receipt." One instance was mentioned in which a Harbour, Board official in a New Zealand port was alleged to have detailed one of the board's carpenters to mend up a broken ca.se of drapery. When that case was opened by the consignee it was found to have been pillaged, at some stage of its journey, of goods to the value of £75 odd.

In many cases o£ pillaging done oversea, as has been many times previously stated, it is most difficult to detect any sign of the broaching of the packages, so carefully have the packages been mended up, but broaching of this advanced type is considered by shipping and police officials to have been probably done at regular "receiving" and "packing" houses called at by carters on the way from factories to ships or sheds. Quite recently a Wellington hardware merchant found that two thousand hack saw blades had disappeared from a case received by him and had been replaced by bricks of a class not made in New Zealand. Another indentor found rubbish in place of tooth brashes, and as the case had been accepted by him as in apparently good order the loss was his, or rather the public's, for such losses are passed on. ' INDEMNITY ASSOCIATIONS. f A call was made at the office of a, leading legal firm which represents several of the larger shipping indemnity associations, English, American, Swedish, and Japanese, and a pile of papers was laid on th« table for inspection. "There are some of the claims" which came to iiand to-day, all in respect of one vessel, the , which was in port last month. She was a bad boat, but these fifty or sixty claims, ranging from £2 to £40, are nothing out of the ordinary. You will find most goods listed there, from tooth bushes to ironware, but it is probable that the greater part of the goods disappeared before the ship reached New Zealand. Now the public hears a lot of the fight that shipping companies put up against the payment of claims for pillaged goods, but fully 95 per cent, of those claims and of all other claims will be passed for payment without question. In order to be in a position to meet this vast number of claims the shipping companies have formed themselves into a number of clubs, indemnity associations. These associations comprise shipowners representing from 1000 to perhaps 2000 vessels in each mutual protection club. The rules provide that each ship, according to the extent of cover given, shall contribute to the general expenses of the club, which pays t,n claims in pro. portion to the cover given to separate ships, for some go in for greater cover than others. It is a system of averaging up losses among the contributing shipping companies, either in settling claims made by consignees or by insurance companies undertaking risks on behalf of consignees." STEADY INOBEASE IN CLAIMS. Asked whether there had been a diminution in claims during the war period, the official gave an emphatic negative answer, for, he said, though wharves had been more closely guarded during thoss years, the congestion at many ports and the consequent delays j had oftered greater opportunities for the thief. Generally there was a steady increase in the number of claims in respeutof ships from all parts of the world. In his opinion the problem was not attacked as it should be in New Zealand, and lie believed that it would pay shipping clubs handsomely to appoint officers whose sole work should bo the investigating of all cases of pillaging, for. by that means, pillaging oversea- as well as in Now Zealand harbours could bo traced to its,source. For instance, one particular brand of goods might bo found to have been pillaged in the same manner as consignment after consignment came to hand. If each cast was reported to the head office, the usual channel whereby the goods reached theii destination could be followed, and the tracing down of the consistent thieves made possible.. Moreover, such, a system would enable the New Zealand authorities to gauge tho extent of pillaging in Dominion ports. "Undoubtedly pillaging is very rife here," he said, "but it is probable tliat the great majority of actual broaching- is done overseas, in factories, in 'packing' houses called at by dishonest carters on tb.R wav from tha true i

packing houses, or at ports where organised gangs are at work. If. is a difficult matter to bring definite proof that organised, gangs are at work in New Zealand, at Wellington, but more than one man has come to me, and alleged that 'the whole crowd is in it,' including some of the permanent hands. The trade will never be put down until the public realises that it must pay, either to the retailer, who must make up for the increased landed price of goods, or by increased freights demanded by the shipping companies as the contributions demanded by the shipping indemnity 1 associations climb steadily upwards,, and demands that more effective steps are taken to put a. stop to this continual thieving."

Mention was made in yesterday's article of the theft of a packet of bank notes. The stolen notes were consigned to the National Bank of New Zealand, and not, as-was stated in error, to the Bank of Australasia.