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Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIII, Issue 422, 13 June 1922, Page 3

PRIVATE

BURGLARIES IN MELBOURNE, MELBOURNE, May 11. In fhe last few months there has been such an epidemic of robberies in Melbourne suburbs that some people have been driven out of business. The police force cannot cope with the serious situation. A well-known business man who live* in a sort of sylvan doll in Toorak has established a police force of his own. It is known as the Australasian Safety Guard and Patrol Company, and comprises the proprietor, a sort of unofficial chief commissioner, and 12 men, most of whom are returned soldiers. Each man takes in a block of buildings, and it is his duty fo patrol the block continuously from dusk to daylight, try the doors, and sound the alarm whenever ho sees anything of a suspicious nature, particularly a loitering motor-car. The shopkeepers pay the company a flat rate of 2s 5d weekly, and for this they nifty sleep peacefully on seven nights a Week throughout 52 weeks of the year. <)iu> of the patrolmen is 6ft 7£iil in; height, arid a former member of the official force. The company has been operating since last November, and its chief commissioner, who makes a nightly round of the patrol by motor, reports many valuable saves from the shopbreaker.