TREASURE ISLAND

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 244, 9 July 1921, Page 7

TREASURE ISLAND

Interest has once mor© been aroused in. the treasure reputed to be buried in the island of Pinaki, one of the coral islands to the eastward of Tahiti, and a new syndicate has been formed in Tahiti to. seek for it.

The story goes that during the revolution in Peru some 66 or more years ago a church was looted of a rich treasure of gold and precious stones by four men who succeeded in getting it way in a schooner.

Having no papers, they could not make an Australian, port, so they determined to bury the treasure on an uninhabited island in the Paumotus until such time as they could charter in Sydney a schooner for some alleged trading enterprise, and, sailing’ with proper papers, return to the island. The tale of tho attempts to recover the treasure begins in 1912, when in the streets of Sydney a man named Thompson wan accosted by an elderly beggar. On giving the man a small sum, Thompson was surprised by the request for his name and address. which he gave. Some time later he was summoned to one of the hospitals of the city. There he discovered that the one who had asked for him was the beggar whom he had befriended. The old man told him that he had sent for him to disclose to him the resting place of a great treasure which he and three, others had buried on a. lonelv island many years before. Ho (Killrain) being the only survivor of tho company and about to die. did not. wish the secret to perish with him. Thompson having satisfied himself that tho island of Pinaki is the hiding place of the hidden treasure., has spent eight years in search of it—so far without success. . Lately some people in Tahiti have discovered what, they bol-ve to b», a new clue, and are preparing to fit out an expedition to go to the island.