SECOND PROWLER

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20261, 31 May 1940, Page 7

SECOND PROWLER

OIL TANKS AREA SENTRY’S SHOT MISSES NEW LIGHTS PROVIDED WARNING TO INTRUDERS (Por Press Association.) DUNEDIN, this day. Another prowler who ventured inside the fenced-off area near the oil tanks was fired on by a sentry on, Sunday night but, as on the previous night, the shot missed and the intruder made his escape. Late oil Sunday night a sentry saw. a figure moving in the Harbour Board yard close to the oi! tanks which have been guarded as a vita] point since the outbreak of the war, and he fired on the intruder, but the shot missed. The man was of small build and wore rubber-soled shoes, the prints of which were later found on some piles in the yard. The prowler who was fired on early on Saturday morning was a bigger man. As a result of these two incidents, occurring on successive nights, the Harbour Board has placed four lights about the area fenced off in order to make detection of intruders easier. As a further precaution a quantity of piles which lay up against one wall of the yard have been removed so that they no longer form an improvised staircase, which has proved a simple means of climbing out of the yard.

It is emphasised that persons found illegally in the vicinity of the oil tanks take their lives in their hands, more particularly now that the sentries have been ordered to fire first and ask questions afterwards.