WITHOUT A TRACE

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 9, 11 January 1941, Page 8

WITHOUT A TRACE

MISSING CARS

A BAFFLING PROBLEM

The disappearance of several cars from three of the main cities is a problem the police are trying to solve. Since the cars were reported missing towards the end of last year, not a trace oi them has been found. What is generally referred to as a -car thief" in New Zealand is in reality a car converter; he takes a car on the road and drives it away, usually abandoning it within a day or so, and sometimes smashing it. Such is the thoroughness of the system of detecting converted cars that culprits are frequently apprehended while driving them within an hour of less of their being reported missing. Sometimes cars are found abandoned by the roadside far from where they were taken, others are driven over cliffs and occasionally others become involved in road accidents. The present cases are clearly distinguished from the ordinary run of conversion offences. On October 30 last the garage of Dominion Motors, in Thorndon Quay, Wellington, was broken into and a brand-new, unregistered car, a 1939----40 model, engine number 54305. chassis number 53732. was taken. There has been no trace of it since. On the night of November 15 a 1937 model car was taken from an Auckland street. Its registration number was 186755. It has not been seen since. In Dunedin, on November 20, a 1938 model five-seater car, licence number 53660. was taken from a city street. No trace of it has since been found. An older car. a three-seater roadster. iy33 model, number 93364. was taken from a Wellington street on October 26. It also has disappeared. It is thought that, unknown to (garage proprietors, the cars are pos[sibly laid up in public garages.