BURIED LOOT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 36, 12 February 1931, Page 9

BURIED LOOT.

FOUND IN SANDHILLS. BOBBERY DISCOVERED. CASH BOX DUG UP. (From Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, February 6. In a remarkable manner a hitherto undiscovered robbery from a Sydney insurance office, was revealed at the week-end. ' j ' Trainees of tlie Australian Field Artillery were carrying out active service manoeuvres in desolate sandy scrub country on the shores of Botany Bay, when the wheel of one of the ammunition wagons sank in the sand up to the hubs. Pick and shovels were brought up and the trainees proceeded to dig out the wagon. Whilst they were engaged in this task, they came across a cash box which had apparently been buried some weeks, and on prizing it open, they discovered in it £35 in cash and a bundle of cheques made payable to an insurance company in Sydney for more than £300. The spot where the wagon became stuck was one which would not, in all probability, have been traversed again by any vehicle for a'hundred years. It was only by the most amazing coin- 1 cidence that the wagon-wheel became stuck in. that particular spot in the wide area in which training operations were being carried out.. Investigation later" showed that the cash box was one which had been locked away in the strong room ,of the insurance' 1 company pending certain 'negotiations for sale. The company had amalgamated with others, and the cash box was part of the property of one of the companies concerned in the amalgamation. Police are now inquiring into the circumstances of how it was taken from the safe, and buried in the sand hills where it was found.