EXPLOSIVES SENT THROUGH POST

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27277, 18 February 1954, Page 12

EXPLOSIVES SENT THROUGH POST

LABOURER CONVICTED AT TIMARU

“ HIGHLY DANGEROUS” PARCEL (From Our Own Reporter)

TIMARU, February 17. Richard Stanley Wratten, a labourer, of no fixed abode, was convicted in the Timaru Supreme Court today ot causing a parcel of explosives to be sent through the post. He was remanded by Mr Justice Turner for sentence. ■Wratten was acquitted of a charge of sending a parcel containing explosives through the post. Police evidence and the expert evidence of George William Lillicrap, of Milton, stated that the parcel, which contained a stick of gelignite and seven detonators with fuses attached,

could easily have been set off anywhere between the Wellington East Post Office and the Chief Post Office at Timaru. If an explosion had occurred it would have been sufficient to cause a “fair amount of damage to a large building.” The explosive was highly dangerous and a warm temperature or a slight tap could have set it off. Wratten, represented by Mr A. D. Mcßae, pleaded not guilty to the charges. A clerk employed at the postal counter at the Timaru Chief Post Office, Thomas Bruce Farr, said that on the morning of February 4 he had been date-stamping parcels received at the counter from the mail room for delivery when he came to one addressed to “Mr R. Holland, care G.P.0., Timaru.” The parcel was about 12 inches long and an inch and a half to two inches in diameter, it was

wrapped in brown paper, sealed with adhesive tape, and' tied with string. It at one end. He stamped it lightly and it appeared to become damper. Thinking it might contain something that was leaking, he reported to the mail room supervisor, who opened the parcel next afternoon.

Wratten had come to the counter and asked another clerk for an airmail parcel, said Farr. Witness went to tell a constable. When he returned to the counter Wratten said to him:

“It should be here. I posted it in Wellington on Tuesday.” Thomas Arthur Beere, a postal

counter supervisor, stated that from postmarks on the parcel he believed that it had been posted at the Wellington East Post Office. Instructions had been given that anyone who called for the parcel was to be referred to him. Wratten had come to him, asked him for the parcel, and indicated its size. He said it had been posted by air mail in Wellington but did not say who had posted it. Witness had kept Wratten in conversation while the police were brought. x Constable J. P. Larkins stated that when Wratten had been arrested a two-cell battery had been found in his possession. The battery could have been used to set off the detonators. For the defence it was stated that

when Wratten had made his original statement to the post office staff at Timaru he had been intoxicated and had not been in a fit state to know what he was saying.