GREYMOUTH EXPLOSION

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21329, 2 November 1932, Page 12

GREYMOUTH EXPLOSION

THIRD WITHIN FEW WEEKS BOMB IN RAILWAY YARDS MANY RESIDENTS STARTLED CIIY TELEGRAPH— OWN CORRESPONnENTI GREYMOUTH. Tuesday The mystery whir]] excited llio community after tlic bombing of Police Inspector Lopdell's residence early lust month was heightened by Friday night's explosion in a shed at the edge of the police reserve, but last night, when a third loud detonation was audible over the greater part of the town, people congregated in a crowd at the intersection of Turumaha and Herbert Streets near the scene of the latest explosion. It was originally suggested that the bombing began through resentment at polieo raids upon hotels, but the fact that last night's explosion occurred upon railway property has complicated the matter. One fact is that the bombs have evidently been constructed sufficiently well to ensure a maximum detonation for the quantity of explosive used. Last evening's bomb exploded almost exactly the same hour as tho one on Friday, nine o'clock. The sound, however, was duller than before, leaving most people uncertain of its direction, but in a few minutes pedestrians, cycles and cars filled the streets. The explosion had occurred on the railway property beside the workshops near Elmer Lano, at the back of tho depot of Westland Breweries, Ltd. A search later revealed that just inside the railway fence a bomb bad been placed between two stacks of stringers used in bridge construction. The stringers are on skids, the stacks being placed end to end parallel with the fence dividing tho railway property from that of Westland Breweries. Between the ends of two of the stacks there is a spaco measuring 6ft. by 10ft., and there a hole 2ft. deep and 4ft. or sft. wide had been made by tho bomb. Two young women who were walking along Turumaha Street at tho time of tho explosion heard showors of cinders falling upon tho roofs of the Westland Breweries buildings and tho railway worshops. The three children of Mr. and Mrs. Peter Hansen, who wore in the back garden of their parents' residence in Herbert Street, not 100 yards from tho spot, were startled by the sound. They saw smoke and hoard cinders falling and ran into the house. Their parents were absent at tho time. The police to-day fund that cinders had fallen in considerable quantities on tho stringers and that largo cinders had landed on the roof of the workshops. Indications were found that the explosive had been placed in a tin, possibly a tobacco tin, with a fuse attached. The explosive used was probably gelignite. "We are in tho dark as much as the publ'.-." said Inspector Lopdell, when interviewed. "It is impossible for anyone to try and interpret tho mind of a, madman or a fool, and when you seek to find tho design in these things you aro baffled." The residents of Turumaha Street, near the brewery depot, received a rude shock, the explosion causing the electric lights in houses to go out. One woman whose husband was at work was at home in Turumaha Street with her six children, and they wero all greatly upset.