AUCKLAND ROBBERY

New Zealand Times, Volume LI, Issue 11735, 24 January 1924, Page 5

AUCKLAND ROBBERY

QUEEN HTREET SHOP ENTERED SAFE OPENED AND CLOSED. (Special to “New Zealand Times.”) AUCKLAND, January 22. The epidemic of thefts in Auckland has not died down. On Sunday night last some person or persons unknown forced an entrance into the premises of Mr Kenneth Eady, piano importer, of Upper Queen street, found the key and opened the office safe and extracted the sum of about £4, which, fortunately, was all the money the safe contained. Then the reoeptacl© was carefully locked again, and the robber j walked off with the money and the key. That something was amiss was first I discovered by a constable, who, shortly i before 11 p.m. on Sunday, found the front door of the premises open. On Monday morning, a window of a workshop in the rear of the building was found to he broken, the thief having evidently shattered the glass to reach the window catch, and ao enter tho building. It is then assumed that hiwalked along the passage to a doub'e door at the back of the showroom This was locked, but, as can be seen by marks on the woodwork, a jemmv was brought into effective use, and the thief found his way to the office. Owing to Mr Eady being out of town, the key of the safe had been left in a tobacco tin in a drawer of the office desk, and the intruder, having rummaged through drawers and cabinets, evidently found it. In any case, no trace of the article ooufd be found on Monday, and it was only after the safe had been opened by a locksmith that the loss was discovered. Having relocked the safe after extracting the money the robber evidently pocketed the key and let himself out by the front door, which accouutß for its being found open by the polioe. This is not the first occasion on which attempts have been made to enter shops in the Academy Buildings. The police lire investigating.