PUKEKOHE BURGLARY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21296, 24 September 1932, Page 10

PUKEKOHE BURGLARY

STORE IN MAIN STREET |||# STOCK WORTH £4O STOLEN SAFE RESISTS EXPLOSIVE g|| [FKOM OCR OWN CORRESPONDENT] PUKEKOHE, Friday , f||Si On arriving at work a few minutes be- 4 < fore eight o'clock this morning members- tg[ | of the staff of the Farmers' Trading Company's departmental store in the main street at Pukekohe found that the pre- l mises had been broken into diking the night and a large quantity of stock stolen. The safe was in a badly-damaged <-r.n----dition, an attempt having been made to blow it op en. However, although the locks > > . were broken by the explosion, they jammed, and the door could not be opened. Two of the doors from the shop into the street were ajar when the first mem- ■ r ber of the staff arrived this morning. In the drapery department, the shelves were in disorder and articles of clothing were strewn about. In the hardware and grocery departments, articles, were also* out of place. Several torches with bat-. | teries in them were lying about in various places, having evidently been used by the thieves. The torches had been taken from one part of the shop and the bat- • •• teries from another. Articles missing included torches, watches, mercery, and silk stockings and t underwear. From the grocery department cigarettes, tobacco, and biscuits had been taken. The loss is estimated at no| less |§ than £4O. Entrance was gained through the door T . leading from the street into the hardware department, this being- forced open g with a sharp, instrument. The door leading from the street into the drapery department also had marks on it. It had f apparently been tried first, but resisted the attempt. It was found open, and it is thought that the thieves left by it, unfastening the lock from the inside. The safe was in the manager's office. The contents were intact. Pieces of cheese were found near it, giving colour to the theory that cheese was plugged over the charge to deaden the report. The manager, Mr. H. J- Sumner, and two assistants were engaged in the store last evening, leaving a few minutes before 10 o'clock. Everything was then in The night watchman, who patrols the business area from 11 pm. until dawn, noticed nothing suspicious. Between three and four o'clock he was watching & man who was standing on a-corner farther up the street, On Ms moving toward him, , the man disappeared. It is thought that during this time the thieves may have been making their entry into the store.