THEFTS FROM RAILWAYS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 18217, 3 October 1919, Page 8

THEFTS FROM RAILWAYS.

In a railway thieving case tried in Glasgow it was stated that the North British Railway Company last year paid £20,000 compensation for goods stolen all over the system. Other railway companies are being mulcted to pretty much the same extent in both Scotland and England. In probably two-thirds of the convicted cases for railway robberies the culprits are railway employees. All sorts of things have been stolen and tampered with, even to the extent of mail bags containing valuable securities, says the " Weekly Scotsman." Numerous" prosecutions in the Police Court do not seem to have had any effect in reducing the volume of commodities going a-missing on the railways. Revelations of thieving on a wholesale scale from the railway were made at Perth a short time ago, when an engine-kindler • pleaded guilty to the indictment, and was sentenced to nine months' imprisonment A fair-sized shop could have been handsomely stocked with the goods illicitly taken from vans, trucks, etc. An idea of the extraordinary extent to which this railway employee "helped himself" may be gathered from the fact that among i. host of other commodities there were close upon 7001 b of sugar, more than 1001 b of oatmeal, 801 b of' potatoes, 501 b of tea, as many pounds of currants, and a fine "sonsy" cheese weighing 841 b. Then, just a few weeks ago. the tables at Todmorden Police Court were crowded with all manner of goods—mostly "soft" goods in this case—subsequently proved to have been stolen in railway transit. The stolen articles included cigars, gents' suits, trousers, socks, leggings, shirts, overcoats, ladies olothing, portmanteau, men's bicycle, shoes, eiderdown, and—just, as it were, to give a nice "tone" to the whole thing—a concertina, of a total value exceeding £6O. Five Lancashire and Yorkshire railwav officials—all with long service to their credit —stood in the dock charged with pilfering the aforesaid articles.

As was stated for the company, these railway robberies were appalling. The companies wanted them stopped. Systematic pilfering had obtained at Tod morden for over twelve months, and every grade of men at the station were involved in the charge. Todmorden was the principal exchange station for parcels traffic, and the various articles were stolen in transit. Sentences ranging from two to four months, with hard labour, were passed. For a considerable time Rugby station was notorious all over the system for the number and extent of its robberies.

! At last the railway police got a clue, I which led them to examine the houses of four goods porters and a brakesman. The police had "struck oil" with a vengeance. Stolen goods to the amount of three van loads were found. These included carpets, jewellery, wines, spirits, clothes of all sorts, and no less than £l5O worth of groceries. An. endless succession of claims for goods which had ■ disappeared in transit put another railway company on their mettle. As a final resource, three detectives hid themselves in a goods van. A few hours later, at a wayside station, tho van was broken into, and several men began removing things and hiding them in a locker on the engine. The result was that two drivers, two guards, and two firemen wero brought to justice. There is even one case on record in which an inspector turned thief, and for three years continued to rob his employers.