BURGLARS ACTIVE IN WELLINGTON

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 90, Issue 56, 8 March 1946, Page 3

BURGLARS ACTIVE IN WELLINGTON

£3OO FROM STRONGROOM (P.A.) Wellington, March 6. Burglars and safe blowers have been active for some time in Wellington. Two banks, the National in Featherston Street, and the Courtenay Place branch of the Union Bank of Australia, have engaged their attention. Nearly £3OO was taken by thieves ' hen hey entered the premises of ii. W. Mills and Co. Ltd., hardware merchants, Jervois Quay. A clean job was made of blowing the strongroom door after entry was gained through the premises of Williamson, Jeffery Ltd., next door. The thieves, after getting on the roof by removing a sheet of iron, entered Mills’ warehouse through a skylight. They opened every drawer in the office and even took petty cash from a typiste’s desk. In Williamson, Jeffery's nothing appeared to have been touched. On the same night the lock on the main door of the Wellington Woollen Manufacturing Co. Ltd., was removed, and the premises entered. There were jemmy marks on the doors of the board room, but the lock was damaged so that the door could not he opened. Though the strongroom was in an open position in the office there wepe no indications that an effort had been made to force it.

Recently an attempt was made to enter the National Bank in Featherston Street. Here the thieves forced a side door, only to find that they had gained right of way to a room in the basement where the central heating plant was installed. Impenetrable walls stood between them and the vaults, where valuables are kept. Last week Shariand and Co. Ltdwholesale druggists and chemists, of Dixon Street, were visited by thieves. A fire escape down a side alley was used, and by this means access was gained to the first storey, where a window was broken to get into the warehouse. Once inside the thieves created havoc in the office, but found only netty cash. Burglars last week entered the Courtenay Place branch of the Union Bank of Australia. They blew the strongroom door, but it jammed, and nothing was taken. Drills had to be used to open the damaged door after the burglary was discovered. A similar fate met an endeavour in the early hours of the morning to blow a safe at Market Gardeners Ltd., Wakefield Street, the door again jamming.