DESTRUCTIVE THIEVES

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LIII, Issue 17, 22 January 1919, Page 8

DESTRUCTIVE THIEVES

damage in a post OFFICE 1 .

WANTON MISCHIEF DONE.

An entry was made , into the Sydenham Post Office, Christchurch, between Saturday evening and Monday _ morning. So far, as is known, the thieves got gome money from a petty cash drawer and some coppers from another drawer, amounting to about 30s. They took' the postmaster’s revolver, and) smashed a watch which they found in one of the drawers of his desk—the battered remains of the watch were thrown u P° n the floor. All the keys that the marauders could find in the place were commandeered, and desks apd drawers were unlocked or forced open, and. their content# overturned, some trifling things heinpr abstracted. Letters in the posting boxes were torn, evidently mi the search-for money. • ' , , Chemical fire extinguishers were battered, and their content# emptied on to the floor coverings, A hatchet which was in the building was used m an un«ucoew*ul attempt to break open a small money-box. The thieves’ investigations had even extended to a bottle of formalin—which they evidently had found, after pouring some of it into a tumbler, was not good to drink. Their destructiveness was shown also in using a pair of scissors for making circles on the furniture. . , , A similar visitation was made to ipronuses opposite the post office, comprising an office and a confectionery shop. In . the shop, toys andl sweets were taken from, the shelves and scattered on the floor, siome of the toys being smashed The till was forced open, but there was no money in it. In the office, the desk was ransacked, founts thrown ovter the floor, and a packet of ice oream powder emptied into a drawer in which £,ere kept various odds and ends. Stamps were torn up and apportion of a desk slashed with a pocket-knife.