SYDNEY SCENE

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 170, 21 July 1941, Page 5

SYDNEY SCENE

I * I -— (0.C.) SYDNEY, July 12. The pluck of Mr. Tom May, aged 32. city worker by day and a member of the Volunteer Coastal Patrol by night, saved a freighter which was in danger of drifting on to the rocks in the harbour. The ship's anchor had fouled the underwater telephone cables connecting the two sides of the harbour, and, with the anchor showing above water, the cables were being torn apart. Standing in the darkness on the anchor, I May clung to the anchor chain with ,one hand and with the other worked | steadily until he had freed the anchor from the cables. At times |he disappeared below the water as ; the ship dipped her bow in it, responding to the swell. Detectives hiding in the belfry of St. Andrew's Cathedral saw a woman steal a handbag from another woman who was kneeling in prayer in front ,of her. In a flat later thov took ; possession of 20 handbags and much church property. Before their capture they had spent hours with church congregations investigating : complaints of the theft of handbags, candle-sticks, hymn books and other : articles. ; Shocking allegations have directed , public attention to the operations of moneylenders, whom the Labour Government in this State intends to control. The Minister for Transport. I Mr. O'Sullivan, mentioned the case of a woman who borrowed £100 four years ago when her son was bound over to make restitution in that amount. He said she had had to | renew the loan three times, in doing so had paid £365. and still owed the ; fourth moneylender £162. The Federal Board of Inquiry into • cash order and hire purchase trade was told of a woman whoso house was sold because she owed <>n a piano—which, of course. she al-n lost. The market price oi tlr- liousc

WATCHMAN'S PLUCK

CHURCH THIEF CAPTURED

was said to be about £400 and thej valuation £250, but £200 was owing i in rates and on a mortgage. It was j alleged that the forced sale of the I house was not advertised in the local 1 | paper but only in a Sydney daily. Much interest has been roused bv the State Government's intention to bring in a Greater Sydney Bill, which will increase the area of the city proper, whose boundaries are as they were fixed 100 years ago. and amal-! gamate suburban councils into a few; large ones and give these larger! councils powers over public services I now controlled by various boards.! The Greater Sydney Council will be! the overriding body for the whole) jarea. which will extend as far afieldj as Penrith, at the foot of the Blue! I Mountains. The G.S.C. will be elec-! jted on a straight-out adult franchise! i and its members will be paid. I Miss Bernice D. Campbell. 27-vear-old brunette, employed in the Fede-i Iral Labour Department, who has jbeen appointed confidential tvpist to! jthe Australian Minister in Tokvo' (Sir John Latham, at a salary of £450.' lis the first Australian girl to be| !sent by the Commonwealth to a | foreign country. One of the things' ithat got her the job was her fluent! |French, which is the language of: ;the Diplomatic Corps in Tokyo. ! j Painful blundering recently led to I a mother receiving a demand that; iher son should enrol for compulsory ; | training nearly four weeks after she' had been informed that he had been , killed in action. It was a double blunder. for apart from the fact that the | soldier, her only son. had been killed; on active service, men alrendv >erv-j ,ing are naturally not required to | register.