THEATRE OUTRAGE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22839, 21 September 1937, Page 12

THEATRE OUTRAGE

BUILDING BLOWN 1:1'

BENZINE AND TIME FUSE WATER SUPPLY CUT OFF THREATENING LETTERS SEQUEL [from our own conitrcsroNDF.NT 1 SYDNEY, Sept. 17 Gangster methods wore used in the destruction by explosion and lire of a picture theatre at Blavney, New South Wales, which caused damage of more than £OOOO. Ho I ore the explosion pressure valves at the town reservoir were deliberately cut oil, giving the firemen no chance of saving the building.

Four anonymous letters were received by the proprietor of the theatre a month ago. shortly before the official opening of the building, threatening him with violent personal injury. In these letters sinister threats were made. Detectives found definite evidence that the floor of the theatre had been saturated with benzine and the vapoui exploded with a time fuse of a sparking device. After pulling the wreckage apart, the detectives found eight benzine tins, six under the seats of the front stalls and two under the stage. Entire Building Wrecked The explosion wrecked the entire building. The walls collapsed outward, and several tons of roofing crashed into the centre of the theatre. A fierce blaze, which enveloped the building in a few seconds, reduced the theatre to a heap of smoking ruins. Forced, because ot deliberate interference with the town water supply, to use a brigade pump to get water out of the main, the firemen waged a.hopeless fight. What little of the floor remained unburned was saturated with benzine. In the soft earth around the theatre the tracks of two men were traced from the back of the building to a side door, which had been forced open. Plaster casts were made of the tracks. 'I lie proprietor, Mr. Patrick Donnelly, lrud kept the four anonymous letters he had received. He handed them to detectives. "JL did not take the threats seriously, he said, " but the writer has now made it clear that lie meant business." Motive Said to Exist The detectives do not attribute the letters to a maniac. They say they have unearthed a motive for the outrage, and the letters conform to A line of investigation on which they are concentrating. The suspicions of the firemen at the unusually low water pressure at the time of the fire prompted a visit to the reservoir, half a mile outside the township. Detectives found that the pressure valves had been tampered with, a wrench having been used to cut them. The explosion was timed for 3 a.m. —the only period each morning when the theatre was temporarily unguarded. At that time the nightwatchman is at the railway station directing mail train passengers to tea rooms and hotels.

BEER LEFT FOR GOATS ORGY IN RIVER BED MINING TOWN INCIDENT [FROM OUK OWN COItItKSTONDKNTJ SYDNEY. Sept. 17 The range of a goat's appetite lias acquired new limits at Mount Isa, the silver-lead mining town in far western Queensland. Mount Isa is known as a town where men are men, but even the most hardened sadly turned away from G-l-1 gallons of condemned beer emptied into tho dry bod of the Leichhardt River. Not so tho town goats. Thcv had an orgy. The lorry which took the condemned liquor out of town was followed by a speculative crowd, and others met it at the river bank. They were well supplied with billyeans and kerosene tins. I3ut the excise officer, after tasting tho spouting cascade, pronounced it unfit for human consumption. A delegate came forward, an eminent connoisseur, and asked if he could taste it. He was allowed to do so. Anxious eyes watched his face. His remarks were not polite. Later 120 goats came along. I hey imbibed. Within an hour, those of the mob that were not asleep were fighting. Then their owners dragged them home.

GREAT NEW HIGHWAY SOUTH AFRICAN PROPOSAL LINK WITH MEDITERRANEAN [FKOM OUB OWN COBBKSI'ONDI'.NT] CAPETOWN, August '_>< i A great all-weather highway linking Capetown with the Western Mediterranean may bo a matter of practical politics within a comparatively short time, as a result of the etlorts of the Alliance Internationale do Tourisme, the large motor travel organisation. A road conference at liulawayo, attended by representatives irom all tho principal cities in the Khodcsias and the Union, was a preliminary to a bigger conference to be held at Costermansville, south oi' Lake Kivu, in October next year. The Bulawayo conferenco camo to an understanding regarding its future recommendations to all the Governments concerned in tho proposed highway, and this will bo one of the main subjects to he discussed next year.

GOLD MINE LABOUR WITWATERSRAND SHORTAGE NATIVES LEAVE FOR HARVEST [KItOM oim OWN CO]tItKSI'ONI)KNT~] JOHAXXESBURG. August '-20 On so vast and intensive a scale are operations on the Witwatersrand gold mines being conducted to-day, that the industry could easily absorb an additional .'IO,OOO natives over and above the present total of 291,000. Since the end of February, when the native labour strength was about ;110,000, there has been a continual drift of natives away from the Hand to their homes. In five months the labour supply on the mines has dwindled bv approximately 20,000, and the authorities foresee difficulties—at least in the near future —in making up this "wastage" and securing an additional 10,000 natives, who would be of great use at present. One of the main reasons for this decrease in mine labour is stated to be the abundant crops grown on the natives' land this year. For years the natives have suffered from drought, pests and poor yields, and this season they are making up for the lean times. How long it will be before they begin to return to their lucrative employment on the mines of the Hand it is impossible to judgo.