SHOT HIMSELF.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 305, 27 December 1939, Page 5

SHOT HIMSELF.

BEFORE PICNICKERS.

A CLASH AVOIDED.

NEWS FROM SYDNEY.

(From Our Own Correspondent.)

SYDNEY, December 21

In full view of hundreds of picnickers Edward Kendall, aged 24, shot himself dead in Eaet Hills picnic grounds just ■before the official opening in the park of the electrified Eaet Hills railway line. Kcndnll had been eeen chasing two you the, who are believed to have been teasing him, to the bank of George River. He then went to a boat ehed end tried to borrow a 'boat to continue the chase and became argumentative when he was refused and ordered away.

Ho was next eeen to emerge from a •heel near the bowt shed with a pea rifle, belonging to the boat shed proprietor, which he had taken without permission. Turning his back on a picnic party close 'beside him he suddenly shot himself, crumpled tip and fell dead. When liia body wae taken to Canterbury Hospitul, a doctor recognised him fle a patient he had treated for a slight bullet wound a few weeks ago. Kendall had been living in a ehack near the picnic grounds with another man and wa<s regarded in the district aa somewhat eccentric. Police Intervened. Shouting out "Let's tear down the Soviet flair," six soldiers of the 2nd A.l.h. on Sunday afternoon led a crowd <H people towards the pei-ty s usual platform in Syiinev Dnnuun, birt were intercepted by polios and persuaded to abandon thf-ir purpose'. l " riiere in such n tliinjr a* free speech in Aiwti-rtlin." Police Inspector Fer-n*. 6un icmimlutl them.

The soldiers alleged that they had' been called "puppets of a decadent i empire," and said that was a bit too hot. The .soldiers, before moving towards the Communist platform, had been gathered around an anti-Commun-ist speaker. It was later alleged by the Communist party that they had been excited by this man into causing the disturbance.

Whirlwind Hits Camp. A violent five-minute whirlwind wrecked portion of Menangle militia camp one night this week. Heavy transport wagons 'were blown about, tente, ripped, and tent-poles smashed. The whirlwind struck at 8 o'clock, when most of the men were outride their tents. The men saw a cloud of dust blowing across paddocks towards their camp. They threw themselves to the ground, clinging to tent pegs and ropes. The mess tents were torn from their mooring ropee and some ripped beyond repair. Broken tent poles, kitchen utensils, pieces of wood, and branches of trees were whirled high in the air. A wagon was wrecked, but nobody was ir. jured.

Latvian Voyager "Prisoner." Since last Friday Tied Rebell, 55-year-old Latvian adventurer, has been a virtual prisoner aboard the 56ft yawl Reine d'Arvor while the Minister of the Interior is considering his. request to be allowed to land and settle in Australia. With a family from the Channel Islands and Rebell, who navigated it, the yawl arrived unexpectedly on Friday, and 'broke every port regulation by coming up the harbour without waiting for health or Customs examination after she had been cleared iby the naval examination vessel outside the Heads.

Rebell previously lived 25 years in Australia, but neglected to take out naturalisation papers. Some eight years ago he suddenly left Sydney, without clearance papers in an 18ft open boat, which he miraculouely managed to eail to California. Meantime he had lost his Latvian nationality, so when he wae leaving Europe again for Australia he was temied with a Naneen passport, an unofficial document issued to people who cannot claim citizenship of any country. In view of his 25 years in Australia Rebell will almost certainly liH allowed to settle here. He save he i« worn out by living and sleeping in small boats for so many years, and

after having done 30,000 miles of ocean travelling in them ha,s had enough of the sea for a while.

Travelled Policeman.

The 2nd A.I.F. has men of all classes and occupations ?n it, but probably few have had a more varied career than Warrant-Officer G. B. Dudley, now in charge of the provost corps ai the show ground. A native of Oxford, he joined the Rhodesian police in 1002, a few years later went gold mining and then went to Canada where he joined the Royal North-west Mounted Police. He left Canada as a private in the last war and rose to the rank of major, with the D.S.O. and M.C.

After the war he joined the Royal ■ Irish Constabulary and then came to Australia, where he was appointed in charge of the Commonwealth Police in the Northern Territory. After six years in that position he left it to join an expedition for New Guinea. Since then he has been a sherriff's officer at the Darlinghurst Court, and has also served as a militiaman in the tank corps.