A LOCAL BURGLARY

Waipa Post, Volume 38, Issue 2270, 19 February 1929, Page 4

A LOCAL BURGLARY

MR J. MIDDLEBROOK'S SHOP ENTERED.

IRON SAFE REMOVED. Quite a sensational turn was given to Te Awamutu's placidness when it was discovered on Sunday morning that Mr J. Middlebrook's butchery shop in Sloane Street had been burglariously entered and the safe removed. The discovery was made by an employee, Mr D. Stallard, who was surprised to find the back door unlocked. Further investigation showed that the safe was missing, and that access had apparently been gained by a side window opening on to the Post and Telegraph Department's yard, or by opening the back door with a key that was usually hidden outside. The safe would weigh between 3 cwt and 4 cwt, and it stood in the small office just behind the shop. In it was from £l2 to £l4 of cash, but cheques, notes, and ledger had, fortunately, been removed the previous evening. The police and Mr Middlebrook were inf ormed,-and further investigation led to the belief that the safe was taken but the back door and across the yard to Walton Street on a hand truck, placed in a motor vehicle (probably a light truck), and taken some miles away before any attempt was made to open it. The shop is well lighted by street lamps and from Te Awamutu Hotel opposite, while the fact that a telephone attendant was on duty at the exchange .about 20 yards away, and people were sleeping upstairs in the shop adjoining makes the burglary particularly daring. There was also the likelihood of people passing along Sloane Street at any hour of the night. At what time the burglary actually occurred is uncertain, but the police are of opinion that it was some time after 1 o'clock on Sunday morning. Constables Forsyth and Hooker at once notified police headquarters at Hamilton and all stations within a fifty miles range, and then started on a tour of the district, being so occupied practically all day on Sunday, but they failed to gain any trace of the safe or the burglars. What makes the task of the police difficult is that beyond marks on the floor where the safe was tilted off the low wooden platform in the office, there are no marks showing where the safe was removed. The hard ground did not show marks of either a hand truck or a lorry, for the wind on Sunday morning would soon cover with sand or dust any depressions to inp The overcoat found by the police on the premises has since been identified as the property of an employee, who had left it there several days before. People have come forward who passed the premises as late as 1.15 a.m., and all state they heard or saw nothing suspicious. If the burglary was effected after train time—about 3.30 a.m.—there was not much time for the operation before daylight, when farmers and others may be expected to be using the roads leading to Te Awamutu, and they must have noticed a truck bearing such a bulky object as a safe. The thieves must have been people with a knowledge of the locality, the practice of the staff and the habits of persons, usually in the vicinity.