GOLD FLUNG OUT OF AEROPLANE

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 105, 28 January 1935, Page 9

GOLD FLUNG OUT OF AEROPLANE

Buffeted By Great Gale — I ENGLAND UNDER SNOW (Received January 27, 11.40 p.m.) London, January 27. A Hillman Airways aeroplane was severely buffeted while crossing the Channel, and when it landed in Essex it was found that the gale had ripped open the luggage compartment. The contents, including £16,000 worth of gold from Paris, fell out. The Duchess of Richmond, in which the Duke and Duchess of Kent are travelling, experienced an eighty-mile gale and mountainous seas. She anchored at Cherbourg all night. Snow brought down a high-tension wire, plunging several districts in darkness. All communications were interrupted in Yorkshire and Durham, where there are three-foot snowdrifts. There are deaths from exposure. London is shivering with Arctic winds' and snow showers. Similar bitter weather prevails in France, Italy and Spain. A later message says that two passengers in the Hillman aeroplane also lost their luggage. The gold, which was stored near the tail of the machine, consisted of bars in two wooden boxes. It is considered most likely that they were lost in the Channel, but the police in Sussex and Kent are searching. The snowfall dislocated London’s theatreland late last night. Crowds had a long wait for conveyances.