AMATEURS ?

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 274, 18 November 1936, Page 8

AMATEURS ?

SAFEBLOWERS AGAIN.

BUTCHER'S SAFE JAMS,

BURGLARY AT AVONDAXX,

Safebreakers were again active in Auckland last night—or early this morning, when they broke into the butchery of Hellaby's, at the corner of St. Jude Street and' St. George Road, in the heart of the Avondale township and blew the safe with gelignite.

However, they got nothing for all their trouble, the charge of gelignite inserted into the keyhole being too strong . This had the effect of blowing the lock and the covering of the door off, but it jammed the locking mechanism and so the operators were unable to extract the sum of money in the safe.

Entrance was gained by forcing a window in the rear of the -shop. The thieves collected a number of sacks and packed these round the safe before they lit the fuse which exploded the charge. A locksmith had to be obtained this morning to open the safe. The cracksmen who blew this safe and also the larger safe in the Baptist Tabernacle on Sunday night, are evidently not experienced safe-blowers. The experienced safe-blower knows exactly the right amount of "jelly" to pack into the keyhole with the result that only the lock is dama'ged and the safe opens easily.

A draper, Mr. Atkinson, who lives above his shop immediately opposite Hellaby's, heard a loud explosion at 3 o'clock this morning. He got out of bed and had a look from his window, but did not see anyone about. Concluding that the explosion occurred some distance away, he' returned to bed.