EXPLOSION ON LAUNCH

Greymouth Evening Star, 19 April 1938, Page 5

EXPLOSION ON LAUNCH

ANONYMOUS LETTER. J [ [PEB PBESS ASSOCIATION.] AUCKLAND, April 18. An anonymous letter containing a threat of disaster to the launch Hula which was received by its owner, Mr. Andrew Donovan, of Carlton Gore road, has led the police to begin an investigation of an explosion of a petrol lamp on the launch on Saturday night at Kawau. When the lamp exploded about 9.30 p.m. the flames spread rapidly in the cockpit of the launch, and it. was only lhe quick work of Mi’. Donovan which saved the launch and about 50 other valuable launches and yachts which were anchored in the Mansion House Bay. Mn Donovan managed to shut the door between the cockpit and the cabin, where the petrol was stored, before escaping through the main hatchway, and leaping overboard, suffering from fairly extensive burns. The outbreak was finally suppressed by other yachtsmen, with the aid of chemical extinguishers. The letter which has caused the investigation was received by Mr. Donovan at the office where he. works in the city on Wednesday. The address was in block letters; but the letter itself was in ordinary writing. The wording was rambling; but part of the letter stated: “Remember that when you are out in your boat, there are no wharves down the gulf. You may have to swim, little man, swim hard. Ask Mr. Singer, he knows.”

It is believed that the reference to Mr. Singer is an allusion to the incident on July 9 last year, when Mr. R. A. Singer, a well-known Auckland barrister, was injured by a bomb which exploded at his feet as lie was walking up lhe garden path to his heme at Gralton Road at 6.15 p.m. Mr. Singer, was wounded in the head, a hand, and a leg, and suffered greatly from shock. He had io undergo an operation to have some fragments of metal removed from his leg, and it was some time before he recovered completely. When Mr. Donovan’s friends learned about the explosion on the launch, they immediately thought, of the threatening letter which he had shown them on Wednesday: but they found it hard to establish any connection between them, as the cause of th? explosion seemed clear. Mr. Singer .said to-night, that Mr. Donovan was; a complete stranger to him.

After (he explosion Air. Donovan was taken to the Warkworth Cottage Hospital; but subsequently ho was brought, into the Auckland , Hospital. His condition to-night was not serious, although his burns were causing him considerable pain.