GOOD STORY GONE

Hokitika Guardian, 7 November 1930, Page 5

GOOD STORY GONE

A SENSATIONAL ROBBERY,

GENEVA AMUSED

Much amusement was caused at Geneva by the lively romance woven by the sensational Press round the banal incident of the burglary in Mr Noel Baker’s room at the Hotel Beau Rivage.. Nobody, least ol all the members of the British delegation, attaches any political significance to the inc dent, and there is not the slighest reason to believe that it was anything but an ordinary burglary or that the burglar had an other aim than that of carry.ng off anything valuable that he could find. There is no reason to believe that he knew whose room he was entering, Mr and Mrs Noel Baker occupied a sitting-roo and bedroom on the first floor of the hotel, immediately below which is’ the roof of the verandah, and the probability is. that their rooms were chosen merely because they were the easiest to get into. No documents were stolen, and though it is true that the burglar took Mr Baker’s bunch of keys, no doubt 'for the purpose of open ng any boxes that he might find, it is not true tha the took them from the pocket of a pair of trousers hanging in a wardrobe, The keys were on the table. THE FOREIGN OFFICE DISPATCH-BOXES. It is equally untrue that orders were given for nil locks of Foreign Office dispatch boxes to be changed. Among the keys on the bunch was a key opening the d spntch-box brought to Geneva, and every member'o>f the delegation has a similar key. Mr Baker, who is not an official of the Foreign Office, was not in possession of all the Foreign Office keys. It is true that the burglar took only a few articles besides the keys, but that is because he was surprised. Had be been in search of documents it is proliable that he would have chosen the room of some other member of the delegation rather than that of Mr Henderson’s Parliamentary secretary. Moreover, diplomatic thieves do not break into a room in the lr'ght; they take a room in the same hotel as the diplomat on whom they have designs, and usually wear evening dress to avoid suspie-