Post Industrial Australia

[octave]

If people are worried about the government knowing about their financial affairs then keeping your money in the bank must be worrisome.  

[Bruce Tuncks]

This guy i knew had worked in apartheid South Africa. He told me that there was no organized crime in South Africa unless you counted the government. He said they could lock you up for a year with no trial. Then let you go for a minute and lock you up for another year. This sure would have made life difficult for the mafia.

And yes Octave. The best advice for your super would have been to buy ingots of gold and bury them in the backyard.

I was shocked when the commonwealth super fund gave many millions to some executive on his retirement. And it was all legal, In fact they could have emptied the fund just as legally.

( this guy down the street had his mother do this gold thing and then she died without telling. The kids spent weeks digging up her backyard without finding anything. I reckon she took it with her)

[onetrack]

A bloke in South Perth bought a heap of silver ingots and buried them under the floor of his garage. Then he died, and the place was sold, and the new owner decided to do some building extensions.

The builders demolished the garage and dug up the garage floor as part of the new extension works, and discovered the silver bars hidden in PVC piping.

A Kiwi by the name of "Junior" who was driving the excavator, was the bloke who actually found the silver.

 

The builders did the right thing, and took the silver bars to the police - and lodged a claim for finding treasure. Then came the argument over who actually owned the silver bars.

The son of the previous property owner came forward, and claimed they rightfully belonged to him, because his father was known for buying and selling precious metals, and hiding them. He even produced some old records of his Fathers silver trades.

 

The court agreed the evidence provided by the son indicated the son was the rightful owner, and he gained ownership of them. The builders got nothing, and the new property owner got nothing.

I much prefer finds where no-one has any idea of who owns the treasure, thus enabling you to keep it. I never cease to be amazed by the huge old treasure hoards found in the U.K. But over there, you get bugger-all reward for finding it.

 

http://www.treasureenterprises.com/Treasure Hunting Information/australian_treasure_stories.htm

[octave]

23 minutes ago, Bruce Tuncks said:

And yes Octave. The best advice for your super would have been to buy ingots of gold and bury them in the backyard

 

And do what, sell a chunk every fortnight? Perhaps sell a years worth and stash the money under the bed? Where would I keep this gold?   I am not denigrating investing in gold.  My super has done very well over the last few years, of course it took a hit earlier this year but is clawing it's way back. It allows me to get a payment every fortnight whilst the remainder gains in value.  Gold would seem to be a more complicated way to operate day to day..,    Last October I bought some Tesla shares for  $330 US now worth  now hovering around  $1500 per share  this is over %300 in less than a year.

 

I see people bagging super all the time but without it I would not have been able to retire (or semi retire) at 57.  The tax advantages especially of salary sacrifice allowed me to ignore super for most of my life and to catch up in the last few years.  I don't really care that the government knows how much interest I earn. I do imagine that selling gold involves some sort of record that the tax department would be privy to. 

[willedoo]

I don't know the law on gold sales, but pawn shops and flea markets aside, I would think all bullion gold bought through brokers would be highly regulated and recorded. Certainly any transaction of any sort over $10,000 must be declared to the tax department.

[willedoo]

28 minutes ago, onetrack said:

A bloke in South Perth bought a heap of silver ingots and buried them under the floor of his garage. Then he died, and the place was sold, and the new owner decided to do some building extensions.

The builders demolished the garage and dug up the garage floor as part of the new extension works, and discovered the silver bars hidden in PVC piping.

A Kiwi by the name of "Junior" who was driving the excavator, was the bloke who actually found the silver.

 

The builders did the right thing, and took the silver bars to the police - and lodged a claim for finding treasure. Then came the argument over who actually owned the silver bars.

The son of the previous property owner came forward, and claimed they rightfully belonged to him, because his father was known for buying and selling precious metals, and hiding them. He even produced some old records of his Fathers silver trades.

 

The court agreed the evidence provided by the son indicated the son was the rightful owner, and he gained ownership of them. The builders got nothing, and the new property owner got nothing.

I much prefer finds where no-one has any idea of who owns the treasure, thus enabling you to keep it. I never cease to be amazed by the huge old treasure hoards found in the U.K. But over there, you get bugger-all reward for finding it.

 

http://www.treasureenterprises.com/Treasure Hunting Information/australian_treasure_stories.htm

In Queensland they have a law known as the 'finding stealing' law which makes it illegal to keep anything you find. So it's breaking the law to pull up outside a house during the council cleanups and make off with an old chair that has been left on the footpath. If you find anything, the legal correct process is to hand it into the police and lay claim to it. Then if the police can't find the lawful owner, they will give it to you. I don't know if it applies to council cleanups though. It's possible the junk legally becomes council property once it's put on the footpath, so taking it would be a straight case of stealing. But if you find something fallen off the back of a truck, you can hand it in and lodge a claim.

Edited July 24, 2020 by willedoo

[willedoo]

On the subject of gold, CEO of Euro Pacific Peter Schiff is tipping a big rise in gold and silver prices very soon. He's saying the collapse of the petrodollar is close and the world will return to the gold standard at the centre of the monetary system. And that it could happen as early as this year or next. I think his views and predictions have been a bit controversial over the years.

Edited July 24, 2020 by willedoo

[old man emu]

49 minutes ago, willedoo said:

n Queensland they have a law known as the 'finding stealing' law which makes it illegal to keep anything you find

You will find a similar law in every State and Territory because the concept of "stealing by finding" goes way back in Common Law.

 

The legal interpretation of picking up materials deliberately left on the footpath for disposal is interesting. The ratepayer has indicated that s'his claim of ownership is cancelled by putting the thing out on the footpath. The Council does not really claim title to it, as it is providing a service to the community by removing material from the footpath, and the ratepayer has actually paid for the removal service as part of the payment of council rates. So we have an object that the legal owner has given up right of ownership, and a council which makes no claim of ownership. Therefore, the person who picks it up from the footpath cannot be charged with stealing as one of the ingredients of stealing is to "permanently deprive the owner of the object". Since there is no owner, it's "finders, keepers"

 

On the other hand if you come across something that has obviously be unintentionally dropped or left by someone, then keeping it would be "stealing by finding". Your duty under the Law is to locate the owner. Handing it to a shop manager would fulfill that duty if that shop was adjacent to where you found the item. The absolutely correct procedure would be to hand it to the police, but try and find a conveniently located police station, or even to fine a constable (notice the non gender-specific use there?).

 

For those of you who want to get back at Traffic police, hand them found property. They hate the paperwork involved with a vengeance.

[willedoo]

I could be wrong, but I seem to remember fines issued to kerbside scavengers. If so, it would have to be a particular council's policy against it. Councils like the Brisbane city council encourage it. From a local council perspective, you would think their bigger concern would be residents putting out unacceptable items like pollutants etc..

[old man emu]

I once was working for Lifeline, driving their delivery truck and picking up donations from their shops. The amount of absolute rubbish that people "donated" was incredible, and Lifeline had to pay to dump it at about $150 per truckload. It wasn't uncommon to find  household garbage in the donation bins, including used nappies, broken car parts and filthy work clothing. It makes you gob-smacked at the low mentality of a lot of people.

[onetrack]

The missus and I were walking through a carpark behind some shops in Subiaco, W.A., about 10 or 12 years ago. My eyesight can't be as good as it once was, because the missus spotted a gold neck chain on the ground ahead (trust the girl to spot the jewellery!).

 

It was a very nice gold neck chain, and we identified it as being of Italian manufacture, and I found it was marked 9 carat. As an old gold miner, I rapidly worked out it contained about 7 grams of gold - so quite a few dollars worth of gold in it.

 

We took it to the cop shop and handed it in, and despite even advertising as having found it - no-one ever came forward to claim it. The cops gave it back to her after 3 mths, and she's still got it.

 

She occasionally talks about selling it for the gold value, but I think it would be a shame to smelt it just for the gold, it's quite a nice little neck chain. Seems surprising that no-one ever came looking for it.

Edited July 24, 2020 by onetrack

[Bruce Tuncks]

I was planning to put some stuff out on the kerb with a " help yourself" sign. But now I'm going to check with the council first. When we cleaned out a deceased auntie's place,  we doorknocked a couple of nearby units and told them that they would be doing us a favor by taking stuff because the removal rates were by the cubic measure.

( yes, we started out trying to sell the stuff, then giving it to charity places, all to no avail ). I had no idea that anything illegal could have been inferred till now.

[Bruce Tuncks]

We bought gold with some super money and we just take a bit ( less than ten grand ) from time to time to a wholesale jewellery place. No problems as yet...

[Marty_d]

On 24/07/2020 at 9:50 PM, onetrack said:

The missus and I were walking through a carpark behind some shops in Subiaco, W.A., about 10 or 12 years ago. My eyesight can't be as good as it once was, because the missus spotted a gold neck chain on the ground ahead (trust the girl to spot the jewellery!).

 

It was a very nice gold neck chain, and we identified it as being of Italian manufacture, and I found it was marked 9 carat. As an old gold miner, I rapidly worked out it contained about 7 grams of gold - so quite a few dollars worth of gold in it.

 

We took it to the cop shop and handed it in, and despite even advertising as having found it - no-one ever came forward to claim it. The cops gave it back to her after 3 mths, and she's still got it.

 

She occasionally talks about selling it for the gold value, but I think it would be a shame to smelt it just for the gold, it's quite a nice little neck chain. Seems surprising that no-one ever came looking for it.

I wondered where that went!  Drop it in the mail when you get a chance...

[red750]

A guy had an old fridge in working order he wanted to get rid of. He put it out on his front lawn with a sign which read FREE TO A GOOD HOME. It sat there for two weeks. He changed the sign to read FOR SALE $40. It was gone overnight.

[nomadpete]

I have a friend who had to do that to get rid of an old lawnmower. But it didn't go as he expected.

 

He lives a a 'lower socio economic' suburb. Anything of value that's not bolted down is fair game. So, feeling too lazy to take the old mower to the tip, he left it on the footpath outside the front gate. A week later it was gone and he was smug. Until later that night there came a knock at the door. A policeman had apprehended the thief and returned the mower!

[Marty_d]

4 hours ago, nomadpete said:

I have a friend who had to do that to get rid of an old lawnmower. But it didn't go as he expected.

 

He lives a a 'lower socio economic' suburb. Anything of value that's not bolted down is fair game. So, feeling too lazy to take the old mower to the tip, he left it on the footpath outside the front gate. A week later it was gone and he was smug. Until later that night there came a knock at the door. A policeman had apprehended the thief and returned the mower!

They did that with my LH Torana which got stolen too.  B*stards, I had insurance.

[nomadpete]

Anyway this thread is about "Post Industrial Australia".

To my thinking that leaves us open to discuss anything after about 1976....

 

So, after 1976, a colleague used to drive his Datsun 120Y to Sunnybank railway station (might have been Logan). One day, he returned to find a smashed window and the car had been gone through. Other cars had been done, too. After that event, he left the doors unlocked and the glovebox open. Nobody would steal a 120Y. That plan worked well for many years.

[nomadpete]

Further north at Sandgate, we had a better class of delinquent. There were cars in the railway station carpark that seemed to be using a lot of fuel, but not predictably. Eventually somebody got suspicious when, when coming home from work,  their car was not in the same spot that they left it. Turned out that there was a bunch of schoolkids going for joyrides at lunchtime, and returning the stolen vehicle to the same carpark after their fun. This was prior to the advert of security cameras.

[Marty_d]

I guess I'm well past the statute of limitations for this (it was 34 years ago) - but when I was 14 I took Mum's Holden Camira for a drive while she was in the shops.  (That was in Sunnybank too, funnily enough!)  

Unfortunately I wasn't used to driving in traffic and it took me longer than expected to get back to the car park.  She was waiting for me with the arms crossed and the foot tapping.  Luckily she was a sensible woman and hadn't assumed I'd been kidnapped...

[pmccarthy]

I once made a really strong bracket so no-one could steal my radio. It worked great. The window was smashed and the dashboard and radio were crowbared out of shape, but they didn't get my $60 radio!