AUCKLAND LETTER

Greymouth Evening Star, 10 September 1924, Page 8

AUCKLAND LETTER

SHOP-LHjTING.

(From Our Own Correspondent).

AUCKLAND, Sept. 5. Auckland possesses the unenviable reputation of harbouring more shoplifters than any of the other principal centres of the Dominion. From enquiries I have instituted this week, I gather that the losses of local shopkeepers amount in the aggregate to several thousands of pounds in the course of the year, as the rgsu.lt of pie “pinching” of goods in shops. r lhe proprietor of one big store, in discussing the mattfer, was frank enough to admit that in many cases the shopkeeper passes on the lasses to the public, who are thus called upon to pay, . in the shape of enhanced prices, for the dishonesty of the thieves. Rather rough on the public! It reminds me of the story of the hotel proprietor who, being informed by one of his employees that the “gentleman” who had slept the night before in bedroom No. 12 had gone away without paying for a bottle of whisky he had ordered, replied : “Well, put it down to No. 13. I can’t be the loser!” » WELL-TO-DO THIEVES. Prosecutions for shop-lifting have been fairly numerous during the past year, but I understand that the cases coming before the Police Court do not represent anything approaching the actual number of offences of the kind. Many of the thieves get away ilndetected, ' and in other cases the shopkeepers refuse to prosecute. A rather remarkable feature of these cases is that th© offenders —almost invariably women—are often well-to-do, and could yvell afford to buy the goods they steal. trolley; nuisance. The unfortunate lady who was bowled over in Wanganui Avenue this week by a small boy who ran her down with his trolley, was reported the same day to be “suffering more from snock than anything else.” As a matter of fact she was incapacitated for some time, and may be so still. Had she been killed, as she might easily have been, steps would no doubt have been taken to put an end to the trolley nuisance once ’ and for all. Trolley riding is, I believe, illegal, but it still goes on, and it will probably continue until there is a fatal accident. THAT SKELETON. Speculation has been rife this week as to the identity of the skeleton unearthed three .months ago during excavation work under the Bank of New Zealand in Queen Street. Although the bones were found in May or .Inner, the inquest has only just been held, and in the interval the police have been endeavouring to find out how the skeleton got where it was dug up, and whose it was. The.se points the inquest has failed to throw any lights upon. The remains may be those of the man Hamilton, who disappeared nearly 70 years ago under mysterious circumstances, and they may not. Surely here was a chance for the local spiritualists to get busy. '.They ought to have been able to tell us all about it. But despite the fact that there are dozens of gifted “mediums” in Auckland, not one of them has come forward and attempted to solve the mystery.

DEATH DEALING BAYS.

Most people will cordially agree with Mr Justice Stringer that persons who administer the X-Ray treatment ought to be licensed or controlled in some way. As his Honor most pertinently put it, even the plumber and the motor car driver must be, licensed before' they are permitted to follow those occupations, while the. man who poses as an X-R<ay expert and handles “those death-dealing rays might possess no knowledge" at "all.” Such a remark, falling from the lips of a judge of the Supreme Court, ought to result in the' bringing about of the much-needed reform.

MARRIED v. SINGLE.

Complaints have been made in 'several quarters in Auckland this week regarding the unfairness of married women with comfortable homes, and husbands earning what is sometimes called “good money” competing with single women and girls in factory work, and thus preventing those who are entirely dependent upon their own individual exertions from obtaining employment, sometimes hard to secure. I believe this complaint to be wellfounded, and I certainly think that single women who are competent hands ought to be given preference when they apply for work.

UNIVERSITY TOWER. If you have not been in Auckland for some little time you will not, of course, have seen the new University building in Princes Street, Aibc-’ Park. This building is by no means complete, but has already been subject of a storm of criticism, mostly hostile. The tower of the edifice it is that is chiefly objected to, one critic declaring that this tower “resembles an ornament on the top of a wedding cake.”. The tower is certainly unconventional in design. But we have so many conventional buildings in Auckland, that a new departure ought to be welcome. The feature may not appeal to everybody but it is ornate and very original, and the mere fact that everybodv is talking about it shows that the architect has hit upon s omething new.