CARGO PILFERING.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXVI, Issue 18019, 6 November 1920, Page 11

CARGO PILFERING.

AN ORGANISED BUSINESS. MELBOURNE, Nov. 5. In the Senate, Mr. Earle moved the adjournment for a discussion on cargo pilfering. He quoted statements that the toll exacted by the waterfront workers of Australia exceeded half a million and, including petty pilfering, probably the total w’as o<rer a million. In support of the statement that an organised system was in operation he staled that a boot manufacturer, in order to prevent thefts, sent all the left fool boots in one snip and all the right in another, but two cases from each consignment disappeared. He urged the need for action on the part of the Commonwealth and State Governments, and the Unions involved.

Senator Pearce declared that if the statements were true they constituted a stigma upon the waterfront workers. No self-respecting organisation would sit quiescent under such charges. He had been told that detectives placed on the vessels took theii’ lives in their hands. If they went into a ship’s hold they were in danger from falling cases. He promised to consult the State Governments with a view to taking remedial measures.