LONDON DOCK THIEVES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18549, 9 May 1922, Page 8

LONDON DOCK THIEVES

INGENIOUS DEVICES. That pilferage 1 in -the docks controlled by the London Fort Authority was nothing like so rampant last year as it was during 1920 was on interesting fact brought out in . an interview, by a London Daily telegraph correspondent with Mr.E. C. Stuart Baker, tWhead of the Port of London Authority x dice. Mr Baker incidentally gave, some illuminating instances of the ingenious 7 methods adopted .by pilferers, to defeat the vigilance of the authorities. “The falling oft in pilfering is mainly accounted for by two circumstances, the institution of special shipping police, and ■ the absence of con- • gestion at the docks,” said Air Baker, who - paid a high tribute to the assistance the police had received from the trade unions. "The special shipping police is a body I have been advocating ever since I undertook the reorganisation of the P.L.A. police. Their function Is to be actually on duty in the holds at the ‘time of loading and unloading. In spite of this supervision in the holds of ships, nowever, bold thieves still manage to make conwderable hauls. On on© occason, for example, the men were slinging goods from the quay to the ship. There were policemen in the hold in which work was going on. Presently, after a large packing case had been deposited in the. hold, the winchman put his head over the , side and said the case was Required on deck' for purposes v of examination. 'As the case oame up again it was slung over the side of a waiting barge, and spirited away, being found by accident the same evening. On another occasion a huge bale of goods was brought up again on q similar pretence, and deposited on deck. Merhbers of the crew, who were waiting around for the purpose,’ watched their opportunity, and carried it away to their own quarters, where it was afterwards discovered 1 .

“Once outside the dock, two barges will often work in collusion. The two barges leave the dock together, both intact. One will transfer a part of his cargo to the other barge ; and hasten away straight to hia destination. When the tally is found short, he is able to produce evidence that he came straight away, and arrived at his * destination jn the shortest- time possible, and had no opportunity or time to shed any of his cargo. The other bargee will stop on die way, and hand over his superfluous cases, or whatever may be. to a confederate, but _ since, on his arrival at his destination, his own load is found correct, no questions are asked. The ingenuity of some of the pilferers is often worthy of. a better cause. recently we caught a man who had a number of speciallyconstructed pockets inside his trousers, packed with tea. “Liquor thieves largely make use of the ordinary rubber hot-water bottles, which they secrete around their bodies, The resiliency of these containers is such that only experienced men can detect them in spite of strong suspicions. Not long ago a man was caught leaving the docks with no fewer than five of these, filled with rum, scientifically arranged about his person. Another'was stopped wearing six complete sets of ladies’ underclothing, whilst a man whom the police thought bad increased his bulk rather remarkably in the course of a few hours was found to be wearing rtrelve shirts.’’ In the course of his remarks at the meeting in connection with the Salvation Army Congress at Wellington, Commissioner ( Hoddcr stated that the "Army was represented in 73 countries arid colonies, and preached the Gospel in 46 languages. :It had 12,211 corps and outposts, and .the number of officers and cadets fully employed l in Salvation Army work was 19,276! Apart from these there were 5941 employees from the various departments. The Army had no fewer than 33,436 bandsmen, senior and young people, and it published 83 weekly ■ periodicals, with a circulation approaching a million and a-half. There was an alarm of burglary in a largo drapery establishment in Cuba street, Wellington, a few nights ago (says the Dominion), which ended in comedy except fo- the m unfortunate victim. A woman! was so overcome with soporific influences of the establishment where there was a great display of newly-opened furs and suchlike garments, that she sauntered into a fitting room, and, sitting down, fell into a deep slumber. Someone, for a “joke.” slipped the bolt on the outside of the door, above which was a fanlight,- and when closing time arrived, in, the hurry of getting away to a game of hookey, forgot all about her involuntary guest. Time went on apace, the afternoon passed, the evening came, and then there was a sound of scrambling in the upper part Of the building, and a lady appeared on the roof. She , had got out of the little room through the fanlight, and found her way on to. the roof and down to the interior of the ground floor of the shop. There she was apparently securely locked in, but.- her ingenuity enabled her to unfasten the front door, and she got out, only to bo confronted with a high iron gate. But that presented no difficulty to the adventurous one: she secured a chair from the shop, climbed to the top of the gate, and at the risk of being impaled, made a desperate leap, and landed ori the pavement.' apparently unharmed. Meantime the police were summoned, but only arrived in time to see the . chair leaning against the iron gate, the front door' open, and a story to listen tn which proved more diverting than the usual burglar tale. snake amj a blue racer, the latter was victorious over his more virulent adversary. During the fight (reports ■ a writer m Science) the racer was badly bitten by the rattler, whereupon the former worked his way to a patch of weeds, and bit into the stems, extracting the juice, after which he returned to renew the fray. This peculiar performance was' repeated m a-short time, when the racer again returned and destroyed the rattlesnake.