MAIL BAGS MISSING

Evening Star, Issue 15512, 6 June 1914, Page 7

MAIL BAGS MISSING

JttPABETOY A DtfAL ROBBER-Y. A LAX SYSTEM. * ISxxouh to the Stab.] PALMEBMON N., June 5. A bag of mail matter, including about £l4O in cash, was put on the train at Halcombe for Palmertscn North on Saturday, bat upon arrival of the train the bag was found to be mining. A mad bag despatched to Turakina is also mvsma. So far the police have been baffled by &* dual robbery of mail bags from the Wanganui section of the railway. Inspector Wilson, of Wanganui, is here, and with the local detectives has the matter in har-d. Nothing, however, can be learned from the police. ... The disappearance of the bags is a more complicated affair than at first appeared. Thev were not both taken from the down Wanganui train, as was at first stated. The "Turakina bag, which disappeared on 'he TuraMna-W*n«anui section, was stolen from the train proceeding from Palmerston to Wanganui. and the Halcombe bag from the down Wanganui train. Each tram leaves it* starting point a little before 5 0.m., and thev cross at Marten. They Were thus about 30 miles apart at.the time the thefts evidently took plaee. which would be about 8 o clock. It was, therefore, phvsicallv impossible for the same individual to have committed both thefts. The money which was taken comprised "remittances" from the branch post offices of Turakina and Halcombe respectively to the head offices of Wanganui and PalmerBton- A "remittance" is the sum of money which a branch post office periodically sends to the head office. Each country "branch is allowed a certain amount of cash for curreut use, and anything over and above that sum is supposed to be sent on to headquarters at stated intervals. Sometimes as much as £4OO will require to be sent. This money, which usually comprises miscellaneous cash, is tied up in an official packet, sealed, and marked with a large red cross. It is then placed in the ordinary mail bag. I understand it is the rule also for the officer despatching it to telegraph to the headquarters the fact that he has sent it, and to indicate its contents. This information is not necessarily »mt in code. When deposited in the mail bag the package, whatever its value, is left to its fate. The guard to whom the bag is handed is not supposed to be told its value, because the information may leak out. The guard merely receives what he believes to be a bag of ordinary mails, which he hangs up on a hook in the van. This applies, of course, to slow mixed trains, which do not include «•>. mail van, but which, nevertheless, always carry mails. The, van is not specially watched:. The train from which the Halcombe bag was stolen would be carrying about two dozen bags of mails when it arrived at Feilding, the next station. The guard of the mixed train iu the ordinary course has no assistant, and his first care with overkeen inspectors about is to see that passengers do not beat the department, and he is away from his van at least 10 minutes after leaving each small station, going through the train, checking tickets. It would" be easy for anyone to have a quiet rummage of the van. and get safely away before the guard could return. It fe also worth mentioning that just outside, both the Turakina and Halcombe stations there are steep gradients up which these mixed trains merely crawl A thief could drop safelv off. He could have entered the guards van from the rear carriage without incurring the slightest suspicion, as anyone seeing him leave the carriage would naturally infer he had gone outside on the platform. Probably a similar theft could be a 6 easily committed on many other sections of the railways in she Dominion, and no doubt the praerit affair will have a very beneficial effect in calling atttention to the laxity of the system in vogue in having some better provision made by which guards can more adequately and more satisfactorily to th-mjslves care for mail bags in their charge. All that they have at present is a small locker, which is far too small to stow mail in, and to discriminate between the bajjs. They are, as I have pointed out, unable to do so because they are not informed of the description of the contents. 1 should perhaps add that there are regular periods for the forwarding of remittances to the head offices, and thieves apparently were aware that Saturday last was one of these days.