HAUL Of A CURIOSITY SHOP.

Grey River Argus, 24 April 1912, Page 5

HAUL Of A CURIOSITY SHOP.

A NATURAL KLEPTOMANIAC

' Anyone upor down the coasit, from the Grey Valley to Ruatapu, who has lately missed anything- in the way of machinery, coils of barbed wire, tools of any kind, besides a whole catalogue of other mechanical odds and ends, might be'able'-to identify some of his property if he paid a 'visit to the police station- There are cartloads of a most misullaneous assortment there of articles pii.ked up at odd times, both far and near — and nil stolon some time or other. The history of this rather unique collection is somehing: as follows, as near as could; be gather iv a short interview with Inspector Norwood: At various times the police received written complaints about sundry articles that had been missed. The filed correspondence on the subject became suspiciously frequent. Acting on information, the Inspector obtained a search warrant, and he and Detective Campbell and Constable Anderson visited thet" premises of Mr. Alfred Robinson, cordial ; manufacurer, at Brunnerton. The result was somewhat astonishing. No search was needed. An extraordinary assortment of tools, machinery and what seemed a vast variety of useful things out of their proper place was scattered about in all directions. A good deal of it indicated the source of origin', for there were the picks and shovels of coal minerslots of them — a lot of sawmill tools, a vertical engine that would weigh some hundreds of pounds ; a box of tools ; a roll of barbed wire; a telephone receiver, and heaps of other things ith*U would require an expert 1 to deffine the use of. Apart from what the police brought to the station, a great deal more was left behind. • It appears that Robinson was good' enough not only to inform the police where some of the stuff was taken from, Evidently the poor fellow is ons of those freaks of nature that canno: help picking up "unconsidered trifles" wherever they gx>. His mania seems to lead him to prefer to annex machinery or metal of some kind. There seemed to be nothing in the soft goods or drapery line. Mr. Robinson seems, to have a decided mechanical turn as' well as being "light-fingered.". Inspector Norwood would like to see the property identified as soon as. possible, which would be convenient for all parties. Immediately on return" from Brunner it was arranged to search a house oi , the brother, Mr. Oliver Robinson, accused at Hokitika and a quantity; of stolen property of the same description as the Brunner case was found in his possession, and he. was arrested by the Hokitika police.