HOTEL ROBBERY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13195, 5 June 1906, Page 5

HOTEL ROBBERY.

. SEVERAL ROOMS ENTERED. MONEY STOLEN. The short immunity from robberies that Auckland has enjoyed recently whs broken some time between Saturday night and Sunday morning, when several "onms in the Waitemata Hotel were entered ami robberies effected. The room lof one of the boarders, whose door was not locked, was entered, and £10 in single notes stolen from his trousers pocket. Fortunately, the thief did not apparently see the waistcoat ill the room, which contained silver and gold, which was Hot touched. The rooms of four other boarders were entered. One gentleman lost about £1 worth of silver, while 'another had half-a-sovereign stolen from his clothes. The robber was apparently disturbed while engaged in the room of the gentleman who had lost the halfsovereign, for the chain wits found smashed in pieces lying on the floor, but a portion was still attached to the waistcoat, indicating apparently that the thief had reason to hurry over his work. A cheque book and some papers were stolen from another room, • but these were apparently of no value to the thief, and he threw them into the bathroom. Some of the boarders were exceedingly fortunate, in that the robber did not visit their rooms.. In one case a man ha4lpft.no less than about*£2oo in an inside coat. pocket.

There is no definite clue as to the perpetrator of the robberies, none of the pel-sons robbed having seen or heard anyone enter Iris room. ft is stated, however, that a person in 'pyjamas was about to enter one of the rooms, but on being discovered he made away. It was thought that the man had merely made a mistake as to his room, and the person who saw him did not, take particular notice. ;' The matter has been placed in the hands of detectives, but the difficulty of tracing money is considerable. There were about 80 boarders in the hotel at the time of the robbery.