November 1950

An R.A.A.F Airman caught stealing wirelesses led investigators to the Commonwealth Hotel in search of his weapons. Cook’s radio shop in East Street had been broken into and entered and five mantel radios and one portable gramophone had been stolen.  The windows had been forced open with a screwdriver. The accused told police that he and his two mates had made a couple of trips to his room at the Commonwealth Hotel to hide the goods. Police inspectors then found a screwdriver in a drawer in room 11 at the Commonwealth Hotel, “the point of which was slightly bent, and which exactly fitted the impression in the window frame.” The case was referred to Roma Street Police Station.