PAYROLL STOLEN.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LI, Issue 182, 4 July 1931, Page 6

PAYROLL STOLEN.

MONEY LEFT IN MOTOR CAR

ROBBERY AT INVERCARGILL,

Per Press Association. INVERCARGILL, Julv 3. A sensational robbery occurred in South Invercargill about noon to-clam when a sum of money exceeding £530 was stolen from a motor car in Maitland Street. It comprised the payroll of the employees of the Ocean Reach Freezing Company. In accordance with a lon£-establi cned custom, George McChesney, the pay clerk of the company, came to Invercargill during the morning to collect the money due to the men for their week’s work. The sum of £837 4s 2d was drawn from the bank in cash, and the money was all in small sums, the highest denomination being £5 notes. Each individual worker’s wage was made up and put into envelopes at the Invercargill office of -T. G. Ward and Co. in the Crescent. The pay roll was placed in a leather bag. which was unlocked, and Mr McChe;ney left the office about noon in hi* car, an open touring model. On his way to Ocean Beach., he stopped "for a few moments at his house in Maitland Street, South Invercargill, and after making slight adjustments to his engine, went indoors to wash his hands and collect his overcoat. He was only away for a very few minutes, but when he returned the bag was missing. Nobody was in sight, and the absence of the bag was the only testimony that someone had passed that way. The view of the street from the house is obscured by a dense, high macrocarpa hedge, and thus it would be a simple matter for anyone to take the bag from the car, without any likelihood of being seen b- those indoors. The police were informed immediately Mr McChesney discovered the loss, but clues were scares in view of the fact that no one appeared to have been seen in the vicinity during the brief period that the clerk was away. It is not known yet whether any local resident noticed any person or persons remove the bag from the car. but it is considered likely that any stranger would be seen, as there is usually a good deal of traffic about noon. Although Mr McChesney has on rare occasions called at his house before proceeding to the works, it was by no means his usual practice, and it is assumed that the thief had the knowledge that the money would be in the car, and took advantage of the driver’s brief absence.