There are probably few cities in the world in which there are more bicycles in use in proportion to the population than in Christchurch, and it is therefore not remarkable that a very large number of bicycles are annually reported as lost or stolen.
Last year the number of missing bicycles reported to the police was over 300 and, if the average value be taken as 5 (a conservative estimate), 1500 worth of property took to itself wings in that year alone.
The average is being well maintained during the present year.
The majority of these missing bicycles have disappeared under circumstances which leave no room for doubt that they have been stolen, and only a small proportion are recovered. The police can hardly be blamed for this state of affairs, for it must be admitted that the average cyclist is deplorably careless.
Bicycles worth anything from 3 to 20 are left for hours unguarded in the streets, even at night, and it is a matter for surprise that thefts are not even more frequent. So careless are some bicycle owners that, on the loss of a machine, they do not even trouble to inform the police of their loss or make any inquiries with a view to the recovery of their property.
In the "found bicycle room" at the Christchurch Police Station at present there are 40 or 50 bicycles which have been found on the streets or in vacant sections. They include over a dozen good, up-to-date B.S.A. bicycles, half a dozen good "Swifts," and representative machines of most other popular makes, including Rudge-Whitworths and Rovers. No claim has been made by the owners of these bicycles, though many have been there for months.
Occasionally even a motorcycle finds it way into the hands of the police without inquiry from the owner. It is one of the unsolved mysteries of the missing bicycle problem that these bicycles, representing hundreds of pounds in value, should be awaiting their owners without those individuals stirring a finger to recover their property. With regard to the large number of bicycles which disappear utterly, many conjectures have been made. It has been suggested (says the Star) that there are one or more regular small factories in Christchurch where stolen bicycles are received and altered beyond recognition by the interchange of parts and in other ways.
Another conjecture is that many stolen bicycles are exported to receivers in other centres. There is no evidence of wholesale or organised bicycle stealing, but the rarity with which stolen bicycles are recovered suggests some degree of experience on the part of those responsible for their disappearance.
• "Trouble is spreading through New Zealand," remarked Mr V. G. Day, S.M., at the Magistrate's Court, Timaru, "because the children are not subject to proper discipline. Parents nowadays have not the same control over their children as our fathers and grandfathers had. Parents must exercise control over their children at all times."
• Rabbits will be taken at the Mataura works as from yesterday (says the Mataura Ensign), and exporters have been busy of late preparing crates and cases. A new firm has booked space for the season, and it is understood that opening prices will be better than was anticipated. Rabbits are fairly plentiful this year, so a record season may be looked for.
- ODT, 26.3.1912.
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