20 JUNE 1931, Page 12

" DEouc-rto AD ABSURDUM."

The owner of a Gladstone bag which was found, according to The Times, to contain " 15 sticks of gelignite, 20 fuses, 14 detonators, one automatic pistol, and 20 rounds of ammu- nition," to say nothing of " 0 skeleton keys on a _ring, an electric torch, a jemmy, three files, and three parts of hacksaw blades and other tools, besides a book on How to Open Safes (an American publication), and a quantity of memoranda relating to safebreaking and key-making," was arrested last week and charged on remand with " having under his control an explosive substance in such circumstances as to give rise to a reasonable suspicion that he had not got it under his control for a lawful object." " Reasonable " is good.