HIDDEN SILVER

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21521, 19 June 1933, Page 8

HIDDEN SILVER

DISCOVERY BY POLICE £Bl3 IN LEATHER BAGS LONG SEARCH SUCCEEDS ROUGH COUNTRY COMBED DEVELOPMENTS EXPECTED [by TF.LEGKAPH —OWN correspondent] WANGANUI, Sunday Success has rewarded the efforts of the Wanganui police to discover £Bl3 worth of silver that was stolen from an Auckland taxicab. which was removed from Victoria Avenue on the night of June 4 and was afterward found abandoned in Brassey Iloacl, St. John's Hill. The money was found on the side of the main north road between Kai Twi and the Okehu Stream on Friday afternoon. It was intact and still locked in the three leather bags. It has been lodged in the bank. The story of the search has all the flavour of a treasure hunt. The theft was reported on the night of June 4. William Toomey, of Auckland, was proceeding to Wellington with the money, which was locked in two gladstone bags and an attache case. Toomey was travelling in a taxi driven by John Ralph Penny. A stop was made at the Royale Willows restaurant, Victoria Avenue, Wanganui, at about 5.30 for tea. When the two returned to where they had left the car it had disappeared. Later the same evening it was discovered abandoned in Brassey Road. Its automatic doors were open. There was a key in the ignition and the money was missing. A Tedious Task From these facts the police took lip their case. Detective-Sergeant J. Walsh and Detective J. Murray were in charge. Early inquiries suggested that the money was concealed somewhere between Wanganui and Maxwell—but where? Information possessed by the police officers indicated Pukerimu Road first of all, a by-road which winds off the main route at a point about the crossing of the Okehu Stream. Yard by yard, foot by foot, that road was searched. Detective Murray was at work from early on Monday morning, June 5. Detective-Sergeant Walsh joined him later, and for some days they worked together, hoping at each step to locate the object of their search. Miles of Roadside Searched Subsequent inquiries removed the scent from Pukerimu Road to the main highway, but the difficulties of the search- were by no means lessened. On one side of the road was bush, on the other a bank 40ft. to 50ft. high and ornamented here and there with scrub and covered with fern and long grass. The detectives focussed their attention on the bank. Measuring off a distance of the road, the two officers would work toward each other, covering the ground with meticulous care. Miles of the roadside were searched in this manner, but the bags containing the silver were not found. Success Crowns Efforts Still the scent was warm and the search proceeded steadily until late on Friday afternoon, when DetectiveSergeaut Walsh found the booty in a small clump of scrub 40ft. above the road. It was roughly a mile and a-half to two miles away from the spot where the police recently made the arrest of the taxi-driver on a charge of having stolen the money from Toomey. The bags were locked when discovered and had been placed where they were found with a certain amount of care.

Sixpences, shillings, florins and halfcrowns —there are some of each in this hidden treasure of the main north road, which has now had an eventful journey. It lies in tho safe of a bank, and another story still remains to be told. John Ralph Penny, taxi-driver, who brought Toomey to Wanganui with the silver, is at present on remand on a charge of theft, and further arrests are expected.