More police needed

It is a long time since Warragul had a visit from city burglars, but a gang visited the town centre early on Wednesday morning and broke into the jewellery establishments of Messrs H. T. Taylor, Queen St, and H. Pettit of Smith St, Warragul. The burglars had evidently timed their visit well and selected the quietest time of the night, for a standard clock in Mr Pettit’s shop was stopped at a quarter to three a.m.

At Mr Taylor’s establishment, the robbers prized off two locks and a big padlock, thus gaining access to the place. Then they made a big haul of the comprehensive collection of watches, bracelets, chains, brooches, rings, etc, to the extent of hundreds of pounds.

Fortunately, they did not attempt to break open the safe, which contained many other articles of value. Altogether, Mr Taylor counts his actual loss at £400.

At the Warragul Council meeting, Cr Copeland said that in view of the recent robberies at Messrs. Taylor and Pettit’s shops, the council should apply for a stronger staff at the Warragul police station.

The town was recently left with one police officer and undesirable characters might get to know of this and hence robberies occur.

Although there were other officers associated with the police officer here, one or more was frequently away from the town.

They ought to have a single man on the staff who could sleep at the police station so that he would be available at the telephone. At present, the phone was in the police office, where no one was present at night time.

Yarragon came before the delegates at the Orient Hotel.

Delegates were present from Warragul, Yarragon, Moe, Thorpdale, Iona, Drouin and Longwarry. Mr. Waters (Drouin, president) occupied the chair.

Apologies were tendered from Drouin, Iona and Longwarry delegates for their non-attendance at the previous meeting.

Owing to the absence of the clubs mentioned from the previous meeting, Mr. Sexton (Warragul) went over practically the same ground as reported in our last issue. He again had great stress on the declaration signed by the secretary of the Yarragon Club.

He said Yarragon had included in their team players who were not eligible. The names of these players were alleged to be Brown and Morrissey, members of the Carlton club.

Mr Elliott supported Mr Sexton. He referred principally to two men named Parke having been admitted to have taken part in the contest when only one Parke was registered. He also wanted to know why Wilson’s name was on the declaration when he did not play.

He also alleged that Brown, on returning to Melbourne, was driven to Drouin to catch the Melbourne train. If he were a bona fide resident, why did he not get in the train at Yarragon.

Mr Pope spoke in defence of Yarragon. He considered the Warragul evidence was not worth a “pinch of snuff”. Morrissey did not play; as alleged in the match in question, but he admitted having played Brown. The motion that Warragul be awarded the match was cast and carried by seven votes to five.

The deadly strain of the Hong Kong ’flu has caused the deaths of 30 Queenslanders, and already one Warragul district resident has died from its effects.

A quick survey by The Gazette last week indicated that as much as five per cent of the working population in Warragul had been affected by the ’flu.

The worst hit area is in schools. At Warragul Technical School, the staff has been reduced by almost 20 per cent. School principal Mr W. Ryan said that if the school lost any more staff, relieving staff may have to be sought.

However, West Gippsland Hospital Matron, Matron M. Heenan, said that to her knowledge, no patient had been admitted to hospital suffering from the ’flu.

A Warragul doctor spoke to The Gazette about the situation.

He said that although there was “quite a bit of the virus around now, it will get worse”.

The same method was used on June 28, when 218,000 cigarettes were stolen.

Mr Clarrie Swenson, of Settlement Rd, Trafalgar, told police he parked the van – owned by Merritt and Morris – in the driveway of his home about 7pm last Sunday.

He discovered the theft early yesterday morning.