PREMIER'S SON IS BOMBED IN IKELAND.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 16, 20 January 1939, Page 7

PREMIER'S SON IS BOMBED IN IKELAND.

ASLEEP IN HOTEL Buildin? Severely Damaged Hut No Casualties. WOMAN BLOWN OUT OF BED. Inllfil I'r-ss Association.—Copyright. i I'rcoivod 10 n.m.) I.< l\ D( >.\. .la una ry 10. A severe explosion occurred at three o clock in the morning at the hack o| 11 a wnev's Private Hotel, Tralee. County Kerry, Ireland, where ]\lr. l-riincis Neville Chamberlain, only -on of Mritain's Prime .Minister, was .-pending- a holiday. Mr. ( ha in berla in was asleep at the \plosion. and escaped • hill the concussion broke hundreds of windows, and extensivelv damaged Ihe hotel. It. i- be lie \ I'd that the explosion was caused bv |he detonation of a bomb hidden near the back pate id' the hotel. A "oman guest at, the hotel was blown out of bed by the conen—ion. Streets Mere littered with broken glass. 'J lie bomb Mas apparently secreted in ft fill de sac. despite the vigil „f Mr. Chamberlain's escorting detective and other police. An intensive police search has started in Count v Kerry and neighbouring districts, m here there is widespread public indignation at the latest outrage. Mr. (hambcrlain is 24 vears old. After leaving Cambridge University he joined Kynoch'.s anirnunition factory at Bit rniimhani. He is also a non-com-niissioned officer in a territorial antiaircraft ha 11 My He arrived at Tralee on Monday for a shooting holiday. He has 'been continually guarded by three detectives, who also followed him in a motor car when he went out on expeditions. Mr. Chamberlain was completely unperturbed by the explosion and departed on a (Booting excursion three hours later; The authorities are working on the iiflumption that the outrage is the work of the Irish Republican Army. The Civil (imi ids say they found the remains or a crude Tiome-inndc timehonib similar to those recently discovered in Kngland. It is believed the attempt was intended to have serious eorserjuencesA resident described the report, as terrific. All the houses in the neighbourhood rocked. Plaster on- ceilings was dislodged and sleepers were thrown out. of their beds. The Prime Minister of Eire. Mr. de Ynlern. through the High Commissioner in London, Mr. Dnlanty. has apologised to Mr, Chamberlain for the explosion.

OFFICIAL STATEMENT. CIVIC GUARDS' INQUIRY. British Offlciitl Wireless. (Received 1.110 p.m.) RtTJBV. January 10. According to an official statement wined in Dublin following an im|uiry I>y Civic (itinrds, a small quantity »»f explosive material was inserted in a pound toliacco tin and placed in a hole in a wall ahout 12 yards from the hotel. The explosion, says the official statement, was scarcely heard in the hotel itself, the damage caused being limited to dislodgmcnt of a small portion of the wall, and the breaking of windows in the immediate vicinity. The hotel itself wag not damaged. <