Historical New Zealand Newspaper Reports on Petrol Thefts and Burglaries
- On May 1, 1931, a woman at a Wharehuia farmhouse disrupted a property theft by firing a shotgun at intruders removing goods from the premises of Mr.
- The incident began at 10 o'clock on a Tuesday night when Mrs.
- The suspects immediately dropped what they were carrying and fled the property.
On May 1, 1931, a woman at a Wharehuia farmhouse disrupted a property theft by firing a shotgun at intruders removing goods from the premises of Mr. J. Gibbs, the Northern Advocate reported. Mrs. Gibbs discharged the weapon after discovering people moving stealthily near the garage while her husband and friends listened to the wireless inside. The dispatch originated from New Plymouth on that day, filed as a special message to the publication.
Shotgun Fired at Wharehuia Farmhouse
The incident began at 10 o’clock on a Tuesday night when Mrs. Gibbs went to the back door and saw shadowy figures outside. She called to her husband, but the noise of the wireless prevented him from hearing her warnings. Remembering a shotgun kept just inside the door, she rammed a cartridge into the breech and fired a shot a few yards in front of the intruders.
The suspects immediately dropped what they were carrying and fled the property. A subsequent search near the front gate uncovered a tin of petrol, a grease gun, and a packet of butter left behind in the hurried exit.
Thieves Siphon Fuel from Magnus Motors Pumps
In Wellington on June 27, 1932, thieves broke the locks of two petrol pumps owned by Magnus Motors Limited in Opera House Lane and siphoned 134 gallons of fuel, the New Zealand Herald reported. The group of three pumps stood alongside the Grand Opera House between Manners Street and Wakefield Street. A nightwatchman discovered the broken locks at 9.45 p.m., after an attendant had last locked them at noon, establishing that 134½ gallons in total had been taken from the tanks—leaving the third pump untouched—and evidently transferred into a waiting vehicle.
Fuel security remained a persistent concern into the 1940s. A Rotorua court fined an 18-year-old farm labourer £1 on March 1, 1941, after he admitted to stealing two quarts of petrol, according to the Rotorua Morning Post. Dillon and T. H. Sloane following an arrest prompted by a suspicious motor-cycle parked near a car on Pukuatua Street and a strong smell of fuel. Detective Sergeant J. White warned the defendant in court that the targeted vehicle might have belonged to a doctor, noting that such a loss could have led to disastrous consequences, and advised him to sell his motor-cycle because it was an expensive luxury for someone earning £2 a week.