NINE BURGLARIES

Grey River Argus, 31 July 1940, Page 8

NINE BURGLARIES

AUCKLAND THIEVES AUCKLAND, July 30. Nine burglaries were committed m and around Auckland the other nighf There were two at the top of Queen Street, two in Symonds Street, one m Karangahape Road, two at Takapuna, one at Gratia and one at Henderson. Theives who broke into the 10VU1 Board office at Henderson stole i bundle of clothing which had been collected by the Red Cross for overseas refugees. After breaking a pane of glass m the door giving access to the premises of Messrs Parkinson and Bouskiil, monumental masons, 130 Upper Symonds Street, an intruder squeeze-., through a small aperture in a diyming wall and reached the office, which he ransacked. He found only a few postage stamps. Farther up the street a burglar entered the furnishing store of Smith and Brown, Limited, by placing a ladder against a side wall and climbing through a window. That done, he went through the different departments until he came to the credit manager’s office, where a deck was forced and £5 in cash taken.

Two tills were smashed, but the thief found nothing there. Other desks were forced. One young woman lost 15s in threepenny pieces she had saved, another a gold watch worth about £4. A trail of blood was found next morning in the footwear shop occupied by Mr B. Crocker, 334 Queen Street. The person who broke in by way of a back window had made an attempt to force the shop safe with a number of tools, but, though he damaged th" handle and apparently injured himself, he was unsuccessful. About £2 in cash was taken from the till and four pairs of men’s shoes from the stock.

The intruder apparently changed his own shoes for a new pair after he had broken into the adjoining premises of Health Supply, Limited, for when the last-mentioned shop was

opened the next morning, an assistant found the old shoes left by th.; thief, who also had stolen a pair of socks left hanging on a line. He took a £1 note from a desk he forced in the office. A small confectionery and dairy in Karangahape Road was visited. This shop is close to the top of Quee 1 ’ Street, and the thief gained admissioxi by a window in a side lane. Drinks, sweets and chocolates were taken, as well as a few shillings left ovednight in the till. The Waitemata Power Board at Takapuna was broken into and £4 15s stolen, and an unsuccessful attempt was made to force a glass panel in the door of a tobacconist's shop in the Strand. A confusion of opened letters an? various articles strewn about the Gratia Post Office bore testimony to a theif’s quest for money. Although the effort was fruitless, he took away a number of letters ready for delivery. It is the belief of the authorities that the' majority of the burglaries were the work of youths.