A Rat Story.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 4911, 21 January 1889, Page 3

A Rat Story.

A most extraordinary instance of tho destructiveness and thieving propensity of rats has just come to light ' at the premises of Mr George Mcßride (Auckland Clothing Company), Custcms-ttreet East. While in the cellar attached to the premises yesterday morning, Mr- Oakes, a salesman in Mr Mcßride’s employ, observed some scraps of paper at tho mouth of a rat’s hole, and lifting up one of the pieces was astonished to find that it was a cheque for £3l 12s. •Further search revealed scraps of letters, and one of these showed that a cheque bad been sent from one of Mr Mcßride’s travelling agents in the South. Inquiry at the Post Office elicited the fact that four or five letters had been dropped into the letter box of the firm’s premises at Customs-street during the New Year holidays, and all those seem to have disappeared. This would be an easy achievement for the rats, as the letter ‘box’ is simply a slit in the door through which the letters fall on to the floor. A more rigorous search was made of the rat hole, and a collection of torn and chewed fragments of paper, mixed with used pottage stamps and samples of cloth, was unearthed. A careful examination of these showed that the scraps consisted of five different orders for suits sent from various parts of the colony. Sufficient has been deciphered to enable the most of the customers to be communicated with. But for the timely discovery, there would probably have been considerable trouble over the missing cheque, and no end of per* plexity on the part of those who had ordered clothes and who found that they came not. However, “ all’s well that ends well; ” but the moral for tradesmen is to have proper letter boxes on their business premises.{Star.)