AN AUCKLAND GANG'S SIMPLE METHODS.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLV, Issue 66, 18 March 1911, Page 6

AN AUCKLAND GANG'S SIMPLE METHODS.

AUCKLAND, March 15

. Some'of the smart gentry in Auck- ' land have devised a new method of ■ raising money without working for it, and so far they have been success^ ful—but just successful in keeping out of the hands of the law. Two of these smart citizens have been operating for some time. Their practice is to pick out a store where only one person is employed. One man goes in and asks to be supplied with a box and offers to accompany the shopman to the back of the premises to pick out a suitable one. Once there he engages the shopman in conversation, leaving •bis accomplice free to abstract as much as possible from the till in the shop. Yesterday a man walked into the shop of Mr E. Varley, tea merchant, Newmarket, and asked for a box. Mr Varley's suspicions were aroused, and taking the man to the back of his premises he left him to select a box, and then hurried off to telephone for the police. The man became suspicious, and when Mr Varley appealed to a bystander to help him to detain the man, the suspected one started running. Others joined in the chase, assisted by a constable, but the man got clear.