DARING BANK ROBBERY IN MELBOURNE.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3801, 20 September 1883, Page 3

DARING BANK ROBBERY IN MELBOURNE.

MR SERVICE AND THE ANNEXA-

TION QUESTION

ARCHBISHOP VAUGHN'S WILL,

QUARANTINED IMMIGRANTS TO BE RELEASED.

MELBOURNE

Wednesday,

A daring and unaccountable robbery has been perpetrated at the Commercial Bank of Australia in this city. Sixteen bars of gold were deposited in the safe last night by Mr Pinnock, the manager of the branch bank at Ballarat, who took possession of one of the keys of the safe. Another officer of the bank'keepini* a second key noticed tlds morning that the keyhole of the safe was obstructed, and on opening the safe it was found that fourteen of the bars of gold were missing, besides £1000 in notes and gold coin. No clue to the robbery has yet been discovered. Later. Nothing farther has transpired regarding the robbery at the Commercial Bank of Australia last night. The stolen notes are useless, having been cancelled. In the Legislative Assembly this evening Mr James Service, the Premier, replying to a question, took occasion to remark that Lord Derby completely failed to appreciate the importance to Australia of tho deportation of French convicts to the Pacific Islands. He declared that if England permitted this deportation tho colonies would themselves bo obliged to devise means for the prevention of convicts landing on their shores. Ho considered that the French proposal to populate tho Pacific Islands with criminals from French cities contrary to acknowledged principles of international comity, and justified the abrogation of any a<*rcmenfc between the English and French Governments with regard to those Islands. A dobate on the question ensued on a motion for adjournment, and the various speakers unanimously declared that such a calamity must be averted by any means. This day.

No clue has yet been obtained as to the perpetrator of the robbery at the Commercial Bank. It now transpires that no sovereigns but only a bar of gold and the notes were stolen. 'The theft appears to hare been most skilfully effected.