SAFE BLOWERS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26095, 7 March 1946, Page 8

SAFE BLOWERS

BURGLARS IN WELLINGTON SEVERAL PREMISES ENTERED (P.A.) WELLINGTON, Mar. 6. Burglars and safe blowers have been active for some time in Wellington. Two banks, the National in Featherston street, and the Courtenay place branch of the Union Bank of Australia, have engaged their attention. Nearly £3OO was taken by thieves when they entered the premises of Messrs E. W. Mills and Co., Ltd., hardware merchants, Jervois quay. A clean job was made of blowing the strongroom door. Entry was gained through the premisses of Messrs Williamson, Jeffery, Ltd., next door. The thieves, after getting on the roof by removing a sheet of iron, entered Mills’s warehouse through the skylight. They opened every drawer in the office and even took the petty / cash from the typist’s desk. In Williamson, Jeffery’s nothing appeared to have been touched. ... On the same night the lock on the main door of the Wellington Woollen Manufacturing Company, Ltd., was removed, and the premises were entered. There were jemmy marks on the doors of the board room, but the lock was damaged so that the door could not be opened. Though the strongroom was in an open position in the office there were no indications that an effort had been made to force it. , Recently an attempt was made to enter the National Bank in Featherston street. Here the thieves forced a side door, only to find that they had gained the right-of-way to a room in the basement where the central heating plant was installed. Impenetrabale walls stood between them and the vaults where the valuables are k< Last week Messrs Sharland and Co.; Ltd., wholesale druggists and chemists of Dixon street, were visited by thieves. The fire escape down a side alley was used, and by this means access was gained to the first storey, where a window was broken to get into the warehouse. Once inside the thieves created havoc in the office, but found only petty cash. Burglars last week entered the Courtenay Place branch of the Union Bank of Australia. They blew the strongroom door but it jammed, and nothing was taken. Drills had to be used to open the damaged door after the burglary was discovered. A similar fate met the endeavour in the early hours of the morning to blow the safe at Market Gardeners. Ltd., in Wakefield street, the door again j amming. ...