BOMB AT A SCHOOL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21245, 27 July 1932, Page 8

BOMB AT A SCHOOL

LORD LLOYD IN DANGER fj ■ • FAILURE TO EXPLODE FAULTY FUSE AVERTS TRAGEDY ' [from our own correspondent] LONDON, .Tunc 24 . A startling discovery of what was jM either an attempt to assassinate Lord Lloyd, ex-High Commissioner in Egypt, or an elaborate practical joke, was made after a speech-day function in the school ¥; chapel, St. Bees, Cumberland, last Saturday. On the afternoon of that day Lord Lloyd unveiled a tablet, to the memory of three winners of tho Victoria Cross, old boys of the school—Captain W. Lecfe Robinson, Captain J. Fox-Russell, and Captain R. W. L. Wain. Two boys, after the function had ended, found under tho platform a box which, to all outward appearances, was a care-fully-constructed time-bomb. The machine was too well made to be the work of a hoaxer. It was fastened to a trestle almost beneath Lord Lloyd's chair. On the platform, in addition to Lord Lloyd, were the Bishop of Carlisle, Dr. Williams, governor of the school, and members of the teaching staff. At three o'clock the ceremony began. At 3.30, the hour for which the machine was set, members of the party heard a whirring noise, followed instantly by a bang resembling that made by a falling tree. The report is presumed to have been the firing of the detonator, which failed to ignite the. explosive. It was thought that the sound came from a railway which' runji close to the 6chool, and no notice was 1 , taken. Work o! an Expert In the evening, while Lord Lloyd was chatting with Air. E. ■A. Bell, the headmaster, two boys dashed in with a large box, which they said they had discovered on the platform immediately under the seat which had been occupied by the bishop. But for the faulty fuse, it ' is said, a number of people would have been killed. A correspondent at Whitehaven says:— " The bomb is the work of an expert. Its workmanship is ingenious, and the whole circumstances in which the box containing the bomb was fixed to the platform were diabolically cunning. These are the conclusions reached by Dr. H. E. Watts, the Home Office explosives expert, whose examination was a protracted one, carried out with great care. Dr. Watts took the precaution of removing from the box the hammer which formed part of the mechanism, thus rendering it innocuous. The bomb was in a box of thin wood, in which was a clock which had stopped at 3.30, the time the noise was heard. The clock was connected to a powerful, bit of mechanism, which was coupled to a very strong spring. This, if released, would have discharged a trigger on a zig-zag cracker. The ci acker was connected to something like a stick, which was black in colour and about half the size of a candle. Police Following a Clue A clue which the police aro attempting to pursue is provided by the bolts used to screw tho device under the platform in a marquee, where it was found. These bore the inscription "A.L8.," which is understood to be the mark of an aircraft As Lord Lloyd is a prominent anti-Communist, the police are making inquiries among Communists and aliens throughout West Cumberland. Meanwhile, Lord Lloyd is to have polico protection until the mystery has been definitely cleared up, and his house will be guarded by uniformed officers. Mr. s ßell, the headmaster, said: " Personally, I do not think it was a hoax on the part of any of the boys, because it is too elaborate to have ' been constructed by any of them."