SOUTH AUSTRALIA.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIII, Issue 129, 1 June 1907, Page 9

SOUTH AUSTRALIA.

Charles Rasp, the discoverer of Broken Hill, who was a boundary rider when ho pegged out blocks subsequently worked by the Broken Hill Proprietary Company, died on 22nd May, at Adelaide, aged 61. Death was bdicved to bo duo to heart trouble. The action of the Customs Depart- | mont in appointing Mr. S. Mills, secreI tary to the central Customs administration in Melbourne, to the board which j will enquire into the conduct of the sus- ! pepded officers of Customs at Poit Adelaide, has been condemned as decidedly | unfair. Mr. Mills*, it k contended, ! must be acquainted with the details of the caso from tho standpoint of the dsparlment, and may therefore bo biassed. Mr. R. Cruickshank, acting for two officials, sent a telegram to tho Federal Crown solicitor protesting against the appointment as quite unprecedented, and liable to prejudice fair investigation. Mr. Price, tho Premier, lately returned from a political trip and brought back with him a wonderful 6tory. He waa well satisfied with his experiences nt Quorn, where he had a dreadful scare. _ "So active," he said, "wero tho Opposition to destroy my meeting — presumably it was the Opposition, although I have no evidence to prove it — that a bomb was placed ready outside tho institute, bnt it was discovered by tho populace. It was four inches in diamster, and enough to wreck the institute, and blow up the people assembled. The people looked at the ugly thing, afraid to touch it. There was great excitement, as it was expected that tho infernal machine would go off at any minute. At last the attention of the | Mayor was directed to the critical spot. 1 Catching sight ot the brass plug, ho thought the bomb would go bang. Mr. Thompson, tho Mayor, is a Scotchman, who will allow no difficulties or danger to stand in his way. With a courage born of generations, he- made a da^h for the bomb, and having secured it, found that it w r as made of some composition like black lead. Then came the all-important question of removing the brass plug, as thero was the possibility of tho person withdrawing it being blown to smithereens. Again the Mayor came to the rescue. Although a man v.ith a large family, he drew the plug and saved Quorn. It is a serious thing if the Opposition try such dastardly jokes to keep tho people away ; bxit in spite of this they came in thousands to hear me. The story caused amazement at Quorn, where scarcely anybody had heard anything of it till Mr. Price's ' statement was published. The correspondent of the Regifter telegraphed: — "The bomb incident is a hugo joke. A ,small boy picked up a curious looking , packago m the railway yard on Wed- : nesday afternoon, and took it to ths , polios station. M.C. French had it examined, and found a stick of carbon bound around with black lead and canvas, and tied \Vith siring. No further notice was taken of the incident, and no one was alarmed. , Thef- Mayor, who i was passing the police station, examined J it, and did not remove any plug. He told tho constable it was only black- ' lead. "I have just interviewed the .' Mayor, who is emphatic in his denial I that there was any scare or excitement. While he was ''escorting tho Premier horns to toa Mr. j-nompson told him of the afternoon's joke. Mr. Price's meeting was one of the largest and most orderly ever held hero, and no ref-er-j enec was made to the bomb either by . the Mayor or any one else. No more 1 than two or three psopla knew anything about it. The Mayor is astonished that I the Premier should have niade such a I report about the incident ■ in the city." It may be added that this melo- - dramatic story of a "dastardly plot" is resented strongly by Iho Opposition.