SAFES THAT ARE UNSAFE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19760, 10 April 1926, Page 4

SAFES THAT ARE UNSAFE.

BURGLAR’S EASY TASK. STEEL FAR TOO THIN. NO MYSTERY DRILL. Recent burglaries in London, which aroused so much interest on account of the belief that a new- and mysterious kind of drill had been used, are not quite so clever or mystifying as was at first supposed That, is how the safe manufacturers look at them. A motor steering wheel, left behind after one burglary, evidently formed part of a hitherto unknown equipment. But experts have not been so impressed by it as the public. Mr Ratcliff, managing director of the Rntner Safe Company, Ltd., says the success of two recent burglaries was due not so mud) to special tools as to the nature of the safes. “They were fire-resisting but not thief-resisting safes. “The idea that thieves bored a hole through a 3in steel door is a delusion. Neither of the safes is more than a jin thick in the bodies, owing to the presence of the fireproof chambers behind the doors. Therefore, 3in thickness exists in appearance only. ‘Thief-resisting safes are drill-proof, and will defy the work of any gang of burglars, even if they are super-experts at the game. NOT A NEW DRILL. “As to the mysterious drill, it is my opinion that the same tool was handled 10 years ago, although, perhaps, without the motor wheel. This, of course, would accelerate the work by the pressure it can produce, while two other men would, perhaps, work a ratchet handle each. “Then again, with the latest theif-re-sisting safe its main difficulty for the burglar is the combination of letters fixed on the door. Before it is possible to insert dynamite in the keyhole, the burglar must know the ‘key letter.’ To find this would occupy more of his time than he could afford to spare. “But, if he did succeed, he would find after the first lock had been blown off, that there were still another two, to sav nothing of the 30 solid steel bars that would finally have to be removed from their sockets before the doer co’dd be opened ! “So long as people continue to keep valuables in fire-rdsisting safes they are liable to lose them by burglars. But thoco who have thief-resisting safes have nothing to fear."