AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Hokitika Guardian, 18 August 1924, Page 3

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

IUBTRALIAN AND N.Z. CABLK ASSOCIATION. A DA R INC THEFT. SYDNEY. August 17. A daring theft took place in the Pitt Street branch of the Australian Bank of Commerce yesterday, just Ih--fore closing time, when the hank was crowded. The teller placed a roll of two hundred one pound notes on the counter. Suddenly a hand shot out. grabbed the roll, and a man rushed from the building. He was chased. . but lie escaped. TRAIN RUNS AWAY. SYDNEY. Aug. 17. A remarkable railway incident oci < tirred near Murrnrundi. A goods i train was passing through a tunnel, ; and iL rushed down a decline beyond, being apparently <iut of control. I lie fj guard applied the emergency brake, | ”„d with dillieiilty, lie brought the train to a standstill. An investigation disclosed that the driver and iireman were unconscious. 'They had been overcome hv tFie smoke (unies while passing through the tunjiel. An hour elapsed before they were able to resume duty. Ihe prompt action of the guard averted a certain , disaster. arrested kor .murder. ADELAIDE. Aug. 10. As a result of the death of Michael Joseph Ryan after an altercation. John .Andrews jellcy. a farm labourer, has been arrested mi a charge of murder. block ok buh.dtncs destroyed. (Received this day at 11.2.) a.m.) SYDNEY. August IS. A disastrous lire almost completely destroyed a block on one ol the most central coiners ot Warrick. I lie huilding. the property of the Coimuereial Banking Coy., containing three shop.-; ami the hank were gutted, the flamage being estimate.l at thirty thousand sterling. KORDSDAI.K SAILS. SYDNEY. August IS. The Kordsdate signed on a new crew without a hitch and has sailed lor England. STEAMER T() BE ABANDONED. ADELAIDE. August IS. owing to the heavy expenditure necessary Ibr the repair in Australia fit the steamer Singapore, the ownois have decided to abandon the vessel. A POLICE Theory. MELBOURNE. August. IS. The police have developed a new tlieorv with regard to the I uckcrniaii murder and state developments may .show that il wa» mil a sex crime, hut. llmt It is the ,mte,mie of rage, the girl being tlirotthd iu an oiitbuist of ungovernable anger. Ihe ilieori. however. i.- a; present little more than a suspicion. REPORTED OIL KIND. MELBOURNE. August IS. Trace:: of oil in Lake I’.uiiga district, (iippslaud. have caused a great rush (or claims, and forty thousand acres have lieeii pegged, including the whole site of the township. In one direction the country is pegged lor a. distance of forty miles. Ihe Director ul Geolo-

,rj(‘.|| Smwv 51 ll VI SOS CJllltlOll. NlJltlllCJ traces of oil were found in one Imre at eighty feel del O', and inllanimalile gas. which may prove marsh gas. T lie result- o‘ laboratory te-ts will not. he known till Wednesday. Ml ITORIATS’ Tl! 1 A I.S. SYDNEY. August d. CJ. licit.iii-fs of S.vdoei are undetg,,j n g all -uts ol lull" trials .in-1 apreselll. I' iist. there is tlie movement n, remove the petrol pumps from the tin it paths— a course, of action which, ij carried into cllect, will veiy gi rally inconvenience them. I hey lire ptesentiti" ;t imuistor petition to the Chic, Seereiary in order to try to block the move. Then there is their vigorous prole-l against, the introduction of a new tralli,• regulation regarding side lights, w hich, it is , olisideicd. instead ~l increasing the salety ot tralli,- will rather make il more dangerous. The new regulation, they assert, is not- in ,i,ntmmity with the law in England or in the big American cities. But the motoring eoiimittnity is perturbed above ail by tlm wholesale borrowing ~i ~ties by joy-riders ,luring the weekends. when the ears happen to he left in the streets by their owners, sometimes only for a minute or two. Many ~•' the cars are teeovered, not a lew iu a damaged condition, by the police but others are never seen again. 'I he authorities are now u-ing a gang of detectives simply to recover ears which have been stolen and left abandoned, hut the police attitude is that the motorists are not helping them as they might do. A question now under consideration is whether the traflie regulations should be amended to make it offence Tor a car owner to leave Ins ear in the street unattended, null.ss ,1 is provided with some merlinuieal contrivance lo prevent the engine from being started.