A STOLEN BAG

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21598, 19 March 1932, Page 16

A STOLEN BAG

EXPERIENCE OF A CHRISTCHURCH LADY. (From Oub Own Correspondent.) LONDON, February. 2. Mrs G. Alexander and Miss Marjorie E. Alexander are recent arrivals from Christchurch, the latter having come to continue her studies at the Royal Academy of Music. The day after they landed a rather unpleasant incident occurred, which would not give them a good first impression of London’s manners and ways. They were at the High Commissioners office, in the Strand, looking at the Christchurch papers which are filed in the entrance hall for the benefit of New Zealand readers. Mrs Alexander, who had been given a farewell before leaving Christchurch, was looking up the account of it in print, and Miss Alexander left her seat to glance through another paper on file. In less than five minutes Mrs Alexander looked round and found that her bag, which she had left on her chair, had disappeared. She lost no time in notifying the fact, and Mr F. T. Sandford got into touch with the police. The bag contained some money, fortunately not a large sum, because Mrs Alexander had not yet been to the bank, passports, luggage tickets, and other things. Meanwhile, nothing more could be done. Next morning, however, a message arrived for Mrs Alexander to attend at Bow Street Police Court. There, her bag was returned to her. Some of the money had been taken, but not all of it. The stolen property had been found in the lounge or South Africa House, close by. No one saw the thief, who may have been a woman, it is thought. The High Commissioner’s officer-in-charge exercises all the vigilance possible, and there are notices warning New Zealanders reading the papers to be on their guard in case of confidence tricksters. Now they will have to be on the alert for thieves.