Alleged Gold Robbery.

Manawatu Herald, 15 May 1902, Page 2

Alleged Gold Robbery.

In the Thames Magistrate's Court on May 12th, Cyril Finn anti James Eagar were charged with having, on or about October, 1900, stolen from the reduction works of the Waihi Company a quantity of slimes valued at £7OO. Accused were remanded, bail being accepted. It will be remembered that in October, 1900, cyanided slimes to the value of £IOOO were stolen in the night-time from the Waihi Gold Company’s battery at Waikino. Some bags were recovered in the bed of the Waikino. Mr Charles attorney in New Zealand for the Waihi Company, travelled from Auckland to Thames by steamer, and saw boxes of slimes on the deck of the steamer removed from the Thames wharf, and taken to Tapu, where Rhodes had information that a furnace room at the Mahara Royal Battery had been hired by Finn. The battery was entered by Mr Rhodes, Sergeant Clarke and Detective Miller, and slimes were found being retorted. Finn and Eagar were arrested, and charged with the robbery. The news of the arrest caused a sensation a(( the Thames, Finn being the son of a solicitor at Waihi, and Eagar the representative of the Equitable Insurance Company. Both men worked at the' Waikino Battery at the time of the robbery. Slimes to the value of £7OO have been recovered—one box intact, and five, in the red-hot charcoal of the furnace.