CAUGHT ON SPOT

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 95, 24 April 1939, Page 6

CAUGHT ON SPOT

AUCKLAND CAT BURGLAR

EXPLOSION GIVES ALARM

(By Telegraph—Press Association.) AUCKLAND, April 23. Early on Saturday afternoon a cat [burglar, with rubber shoes on his feet, I climbed a four-inch water-pipe from the ground floor of Hutchinson's (Wholesale), Ltd., Beach Road, to a concrete parapet four storeys above, and clambered down the lift well to the first floor. There he attempted to blow open the strongroom door, but failing in that he blew a hole in the wall. There was no money in the strongroom. A passer-by heard the explosion and notified one of the directors by telephone, and shortly afterwards a man surrendered himself to, Mr. A. B. Hutchinson. The premises were locked up at 2 o'clock on Saturday afternoon. The building has two entrances, one on Beach Road and the other from Anzac Avenue, and the waterpipe up which the man climbed is clearly visible from Anzac Avenue and Short Street. When he set foot on-the roof th» man found a heavy wooden beam which he used to bend an iron bar protecting a window at the* top of the goods lift well. After he had squeezed his way through the narrow opening between the bent bar and the concrete wall he slithered down the lift cables till he reached the first floor doorway of the lift, which opens on to the warehouse and general offices. After making a careful selection of tools and an electric torch from different parts of the warehouse he went to the general office, where the strongroom is. One of the directors said that only books of account were kept there, and that the firm, in common with others, had a special arrangement with the bank so that no money need be kept on the premises. A charge of gelignite jammed the locking mechanism of the room. A small hole was made in the wall about three feet from the floor and one foot from the rim of the strongroom door. A charge of gelignite was inserted an* fired. A large hole about 18in in diameter was blown in the wall, concrete being blown in aU directions, the combined effects of the detonation and flying particles smashing half a dozen panes of glass in office partitions. x Meanwhile a passer-by heard'the explosion and a few minutes later Mr. A. B. Hutchinson arrived at the front door. As he closed the door he heard a sound from the first floor, and, mounting the stairs, saw a young man waiting for him. The man offered no resistance, and detectives arrived shortly afterwards and arrested him.