Burglars About.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXII, Issue II, 9 January 1904, Page 23

Burglars About.

DARING HOUSEBREAKING IN SYMONDS STREET'. A HAUL OF JEWELLERY. A particularly daring robbery in a house near the city police barracks notifies citizens that burglars are once more about. This robbery was practised upon a house whose occupants were away on holiday, and it is no doubt only a matter of time for other robberies to come to light. The house, which is occupied by Dr. Rayner, is situated on the corner of Symonds and O’Rorke streets, and it is thus in one of the most exposed places near the city. The police-station overlooks it, and there are numerous well-filled boardinghouses in the vicinity, so that for the greater portion of the day it is always under observation by passers-by. On Christmas Eve Dr. and Mrs. Rayner left Auckland on a holiday jaunt, leaving everything in and about the house secure. The doors and windows were locked ns securely as possible, and the side gate (that nearest the police station) was nailed up with a piece of timber. This was forced open for some reason not easily understood, for it would seem easier to go in by the front gate. How the gate could have been forced open without the intruders being observed is strange. The thieves are presumed to have obtained entry into the house by means of the scullery window. The latch is broken, as though the sash had been forced up from bplow woth a chisel, and no glass is broken. When they got inside they must have moved very expeditiously and thoroughly, for they turned practical ly every I hiug.

They were evidently after jewellery and cash, for with one exception they took nothing else. What they got in the way of jewellery is valued at about £6O, 'being chiefly composed of articles for personal adornment and keepsakes from many friends in different parts of the globe, their extrinsic value being, therefore, inexpressive in figures. In addition the thieves helped themselves to a revolver which Dr. Rayner purchased some months ago (during the previous burglary scare), and had left fully loaded in his writing desk. This was all the thieves coutil find of a portable nature, for Dr. Rayner had placed all his cash and unneeded valuables in the bank, for safety. The robbery was discovered by the servant when she went to prepare the house for Dr. and Mrs. Rayner's return. When she entered the house, it seems, she found everything turned upside down, anil the house looking as though a cyclone had got adrift inside. Clothes were piled up in the bedrooms in a bewildering chaos, being pulled . out of wardrobes and trunks and thrown down anyhow. The jewellery was mainly found in a heavy English dressing case, of considerable value, and our national habit of making locks inviolable led to tiie wanton destruction of the bag. It was deliberately slashed open with a knife and utterly ruined. The lock of a trunk was forced open and the contents ransacked. Dr. Rayner’s writing desk was searched systematically, every document being opened and thrown down. Such a systematic and complete robbery is rare, and to have effected it the thieves must have been several in number, and have devoted much time to their investigation. The police have charge of the matter now.