SHOP THEFTS.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 16548, 24 September 1919, Page 9

SHOP THEFTS.

INGENIOUS WOMEN’S DODGES. In the course of an article on shopthefta, tho Otago Daily Times says; The - ways of tha shop-lifter aro dark and devious, and while pilfering of this sort is a serious matter, especially for the shop-keeper, it has a humourous side as well. At the beginning of tho present spring season a well-dress.ed women walked into a leading store to inspect tho new millinery. "When asked if sho wanted anything she replied: “Oh, no; I am just Having » look round.” Tho next tiling that happened was that the lady was being brought hack from tko door with a four-guinea hat concealed under her coat. On another occasion a woman donned an overcoat worth £6 10s without authority, and would probably still bo wearing it but for tho fact that aho had forgotten to pay, and tho omission was politely hut firmly brought under hor notice." In another case a woman loaded hor perambulator with underclothing to tha value of about £7 l 0«, and had tho obtrusive end of «, garment not attracted attention in tho niok of ,tiino she would no doubt have secured quite a respectable haul. Sometimes—fairly frequently, in fact—fortune smiles on tho shop-lifter. Once, when tho ladies’ hats wore being inspected at the end of tho day, an old ono was found on tho stand. It was not difficult to infer that tho fbpr-guinea creation which it replaced, vraa being flaunted before envious eyes wliqso owners wondered how on earth Mrs. So-and-so could afford hate like that. Perhaps the highest lev # el of ingenuity was reached, hoiycver, by the lady who concealed a piece of hooked wire up hor sleeve and literally went on a fishing expedition. Her downfall came about when tho curiosity of an alert assistant was aroused by the mysterious progression of a small article of apparel along tha counter. The resuit of a little investigation showed that the lady was in unauthorised poasession of a variety of small goods to tha value of about 575. Another case ia on record in which a prominent employee in a certain chop politely offered to remove the ticket from an umbrella which a lady was carrying out of tho shop. On his return ho censured an' assistant for not removing tho ticket, but instantly subsided into silence when he was informed that tho lady had not purchased tho umbrella!