CHRISTCHURCH BURGLARIES.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 72, 24 March 1923, Page 5

CHRISTCHURCH BURGLARIES.

A VOl'Tll ARRESTED. fßy Telcftraph.—fresw CHRISTCIH'RCH, thia day. A number of burglaries have taken I place in K'hristchurch. nnd the police claim that they have lyeii committed by ! youths, who have been carrying firearms, j One of the alleged gang, Clifford If. Hoi- I den, aged IT. appeared this morning to answer a charge that on December 17 he \ broke into and entered the premises of j Skelton, Frostick and Co., and stole ; articles of the value of £ti. Holden is '■■ robust and looked aggressive. The [ Acting-Chief Detective applied for a i remand, saving that accused and three j others were implicated in a series of i thefts. Property valued at several him- | dreds had been stolen, hilt had not yet ■ been recovered. He said these youths] hud been carrying firearms. One of them j was shot accidentally by one of the others when breaking into a place. The Magistrate refused bail. F.LF.CTTOX AT KATIKATI. A Katikati correspondent writes: — "The wonderful swing over of sympathy from Liberal to Reform so much stressed by the 'Herald' is not very apparent even in t lie parts around Tauranga regarded as "Macmillan" strongholds. A great deal is being made out of the Prime Minister's wonderful meeting at Katikati, but the fact remnins that, excepting in the cases of staunch Reform supporters, no great impression appears to have been made by Mr. Massey's speech, which even several of hi* own followers have expressed their disappointment. Unfortunately for Reform there are a number of people in the locality who think things out for themselves, and do not regard as gospel the precious twaddle about dissolution, revolutionary socialists, etc.. which is so obediently swallowed by some of Mr. Massey's" friends who' evidently like their opinions ready made. Though Mr. Massey implored the people of Katikati to vote for Mr. Macmillan because he liked him so much, there are still a great, many who realise that however clever Mr. Macmillan may be in carrying out the duties connected with dairy factories and some other local tilings more or less importance, to compare him politically with Sir Joseph Ward, is too ridiculous to be even funny. Mr. Vjsuey's stirring appeal to an audience i including so many people from outside j the electorate and a number of school I children I who will now have to write (•(imposition lessons on the afternoon's entertainment), did not carry anytliina like as much weight as the 'Herald' wonM have one suppose, and the most awful thing from a Reform point of view is that Sir Joseph Ward's supporters have not dwindled at all. Even before lie had held his successful meeting at Katikati last Saturday. Sir Joseph passed through the town at midnight, one evening on his way to Tauranga. and despite the lateness of the hour. over ono hundred people awaited his arrival and gave him a right royal welcome, t'nless they were sincere in their desfre to do honour to the great statesman, it is not likely that people who have u> rise so early in the morning a< ■In farmers would r.-mnin out of bed until midnight. Certainly the Liberal supporters in the district do not make so much noise as the others, but inquiries have made it plain that Sir Joseph's many supporters have not been influenced iv the slightest degree by the lremiers 'wonderful meeting" and'it i< ; plain that very many of the settlor .are thoroughly tired of the Reform party, with its muddling, empty pro m,ses. and. above all. its Hcctioneeriii- ; propaganda." I