THEFT PREVENTION.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 10 November 1928, Page 14

THEFT PREVENTION.

Quite a serious problem for motorists to decide is which is the best iirnl most convenient way of ensuring the safety of their ears from theft when left unattended. The number oi thief-proof ear locks which have been produced within the last ten years, tried, abandoned, and ijorgotten. mi.«t. he very large. Some have been distinctly ingenious, and some anything but infallible. There are locks which prevent the gear-lever being shifted, or the side-brake being released, or the steering wheel being moved; locks which cut off the ignition, others which cut off the petrol, and at least one which does both. Some or all of these may he perfectly successful for a. certain time, hat the car thief who really knows his business is able to invent dodges quite as ingenious for circumventing them. "it is really very difficult to see bow a car can Ibe safeguarded from thieft without rendering it immovable, and that would probably not be regarded with favour by civic authorities; nor, incidentally, would it he regarded with any more favour by the average owner. There is always a certain risk of lire, whether the car be left in the slreet or in a public garage, or in a parking place, and if you arrange things so Lhat your wheels won't turn round, your ear will not be stolen, but it may be reduced to ashes. One of the most popular forms of thief-proof device is the steering lock, and at first glance this seems as good as any. As a matter of fact, it can he nearly as deadly a trap as chaining one of the spokes of a wheel to the frame. A car that can be rolled only in a straight line certainly cannot bo stolen (provided, of course, the thieves are not of the order of the expert

American thief, who brings a lorry to the job and carts the car bodily away); but its chances in a conflagration are very .small, unless it lias a straight, clear space in front or behind it. The theft of one’s car is perhaps one of the most unpleasant tilings that can happen to the owner. Apart from the worry of wondering what is happening to it while search is being made, there is the depressing knowledge that no insurance company is going to afford any substantial comfort "so long as there is the slightest possibilty. that the car is anywhere in existence. If your car is at large “somewhere,” there is nothing for it but patience and hope—and these do not wear very well in such circumstances.

- 1 Fortunately, cars do not remain long in the hands of the thief in New Zea- > land. There is no organisation for the j disguising of stolen cans, and the annual licensing system would confound J the thief with awkward questions. The j i requirements of transfer of ownership practically prevent any stolen car from - finding a market. Only one instance ; of the absolute disappearance of a car ■ in the Auckland province has occurred ; | during the last few years. The car, - I was taken from a garage in tlie AVai- ! I kato, and although it was an English | i make of rather unusual model, no | ! trace of it was found. It is more j ; j likely that . the wreckage lies in a > i gully or at the bottom of tlie river l - 1 than that this car has been ‘‘successfully stolen.”