STRAYED, AN AUTO.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 108, 12 June 1914, Page 5

STRAYED, AN AUTO.

RICCARTON CAR LOST. STOLEN IN THE NIGHT. Following hard upon the cable telling of the stolen motor car and the Sydney bank robbery, there comes the news that a Riccarton car owner is posting up outside his garage a notice which may or may not say, '' Lost, stolen, or strayed, one Ford automobile, five-seater, gentle disposition, etc." Mr H. M. Bannehr, of 113 Riccarton Road, and a commercial traveller for Messrs Field and Royd, is the owner of a five-seater Ford, which he was using yesterday in the course of his business. He spent the day going round the Hororata and Ellesmere districts, and returned home late last evening. The car was driven into the garage, which was left unlocked, and the owner went to bed.

There would be about two gallons of petrol in the car, perhaps more, and it is quite within the bounds of probability that the stolen car could have been driven about 50 or 60 miles on the fuel in the tank.

Mr Bannehr's garage is close to his house, and up a short drive. The starting of the car in the shed would make considerable noise, and the changing of gears could not fail to be heard in the house. Near the point where the drive runs into Riccarton Road there is a neighbour's house, with a bedroom facing the place where the car must have been taken out. All the conditions point to the fact that the car was pushed out, and as it is almost impossible for one person to push a motor car on a crooked drive for any distance, it is reasonable to suppose that there was more than one person concerned in the theft. The idea that it was a drunken prank is also discountenanced by the fact that it would be difficult for an inebriated person to avoid making a noise in abstracting the automobile from the shed. Mr Bannehr states that the lamps were in working order, so that there would be no difficulty •in making a night trip. At present the police force collectively has its eyes open for a five-seater Ford, painted black, and numbered 4473. The car is of 16-20 h.p., and has a hood with tan canvas doors in front. The theft was committed between 10.45 p.m. yesterday and 7 a.m. to-day. In the car was a kit-bag containing commercial papers. Mr Bannehr scouts the idea that the car had been removed as a joke by some of his friends, so the only suggestion is that it was a well planned theft.