COLOUR BOMBS.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 224, 21 September 1929, Page 10 (Supplement)

COLOUR BOMBS.

CHECK TO MOTOR THIEVES. SUGGESTION FOR LONDON POLICE. ' "BOBBIES" WOULD MARK QUARRY. Again the suggestion is being discussed. hotly that London "bobbies" should be armed.—but not with pistols. The latest weapon suggested is the colour bomb. This new infernal machine, which, it is thought, will, enable the police to deal more effectively with "smash and grab" thieves in automobiles, is being examined by Scotland Yard authorities, who were approached by the patentees, Mayfair Enterprises, Ltd. If this proposal should be' approved, the policeman of the future will have the appearance of an anarchist, for he would wear attached to his belt" a small black pouch containing a thin metal ball resembling the "cylindrical object" which figures in most reports of bomb outrages. The ball is approximately the size of

a tennis ball, hollow, and is made of light metal, compressed paper or other suitable substance. It ivould be filled with a liqui,d described as "viscous, quick-drying, and luminous." The ball could be thrown, and on striking the bandit's car it would burst, spreading a penetrating odour and spattering the car with a vivid enamel. Culprits would be marked until the paint could be removed. Thia is how the plan would work: A

policeman is just around the corner when motor bandits throw a brick through a jeweller's window, snatch a tray of rings, and rush hack to their car. The policeman, hearing the noise, drops the bomb out of the pouch by drawing a spring clip, dashes up, and hurls it. The dilemma of a marked car in a traffic jam can be imagined. Not only would it commend itself to every policeman for arrest, but the public cWd join in a new road game—spotting the bandit. It is suggested, too, that these bombs would prove a very valuable addition to the stocks of jewellers of the West End. What would happen when the colour bomb hits the wrong car remains to be seen.