GERMAN’S BURIED GOLD

Hokitika Guardian, 9 April 1931, Page 2

GERMAN’S BURIED GOLD

BOY SCOUT GAINS £SO. SYDNEY, March 27. The climax, to an unprecedented legal action came this week, when Herman Thiel, a German, was paid by the police the balance of a sum of 1£217 10s, which he had buried at Sirius Cove, Sydney, in 191,4, and which \vft« found year by John Spain, a Roy Scout. Thiel was an employee fit the Tnr--011 ga Park Zoological Gardens in }f44, and when war broke out between. England and Germany h® withdrew his savings in gold, planed 2H sovereigns in a bottle, and buried them at Sirius Cove. Then he went away 'to Queensland to work, returning in 1924 to satisfy himself that the money was still where lie had buried it. He returned again next year, but he found that the landscape had been changed, and he was unable to find the money. He told a friend at the Zoo, and then left on a visit to Germany. It was while lie was there that John Spain, a Boy Scout, one of many engaged in a “treasure hunt,” found the money in the bottle—treasure trove indeed J

The Scout handed the money over to the police, and then 'began a search for the owner. The employee at the Zoo at the time told the story of Thiel and lie returned soon afterwards and substantiated his claim. The' uj.nshot was a reference to the city coroner, who, after a hearing that was unprecedented in the history of Australia, decided in favour of Thiel.

The German agreed to pay £SO to ,the Boy Scout, and since that time some correspondence has passed between Thiel and the Government as to whether the money should not be returned to Thiel in gold. Eventually the Government agreed t.o Thiel’s request, The money, after certain reductions for Government expenses and other incidentals, wfts handed over to Thiel at the detective office this week, hi gold. Tt was, in fact, counted into tlip verv bottle in which Thiel had buried it. It is estimated that Thiol received about half of the sum he had buried originally, the balance being taken up hv his own legal expenses, those of the Government, and the £SO which he paid to flic Bo v Scout. To the latter it is a boom, for ho i s just learning his trade, and he is the sole support of his family, his father being out of work.