CARGO PILFERING

Southland Times, Issue 20147, 6 April 1927, Page 6

CARGO PILFERING

ENORMOUS LOSSES. ORGANISED WORLD GANG SUSPECTED. London, February 23. The alarming amount of pilfering from ships’ cargoes in ports and warehouses all over the world has led officials of shipping and trade organisations to believe that a world-wide organisation of receivers is at work. So serious have the losses become that the Sydney Chamber of Commerce has requested the Federation of Chambers of Commerce of the British Empire to investigate the problem. The view that a gang with world-wide ramifications is involved is supported by London trade organisations and shipping companies. It is thought that this gang may also be the receivers of property from fraudulent bankrupts, a greater part of which, it is known, is sent abroad. The losses of insurance companies in London alone amount to hundreds of thousands of pounds every year. Although both shipping companies and traders regard a certain amount of pilfering—in the Port of London amounting to tens of thosuands of pounds every year—as normal, the Chamber of Shipping of the United Kingdom, in view of the complaint from Sydney, is to re-open investigations. TRACING THE PLAGUE. Mr Leigh, secretary of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce of the British Empire, in 'an interview, said:—

"Shortly after the war the losses from pilfering were enormous, and in 1921-22 amounted to hundreds of thousands of pounds, but as the result of a vigorous campaign, during which numbers of men were sentenced to prison, the loss was reduced. Although we had hoped that our losses would remain at a level we have come to regard as normal, we are trying to trace the plague to its source. It is almost impossible to tell whether the thefts

take place at British ports, in the ships, or at the destination port. “It is apparent that the thieves have ready means of disposing of the stolen articles, probably through a word-wide organisation of ‘fences.’ Until we can get at the root of this organisation and break it up, there seems little chance of stopping the evil.”

An official of the Shipping Federation said that practically every kind of cargo was subject to pilfering on a large scale. “A few years ago pianos were actually stolen at the docks, but this has now been stopped.” The Chamber of Shipping of the United Kingdom Committee, which investigated the subject, came to the conclusion that much pilfering took place in Australian por£s.