DETONATORS IN CASE

Taranaki Daily News, 2 June 1934, Page 16 (Supplement)

DETONATORS IN CASE

HIGH SCHOOL OFFICE THEFT. ARRESTED MAN IN COURT. Between May 27 and 29, 1933, the New pjymouin nigii bchool Board office' was entered and ail 4 Is Id and a strongroom Key numbered 17865 stolen. A suitcase was found lying on a river bank at Blenheim in auly 1933. Its contents were examined in November, 1933, wnen the strongroom key and sticks of gelignite, detonators ana tools were found- in it. Patrick James Burke, a labourer, was in custody on a charge of drunkenness when the case was found. He denied ownership but the police allege that after being arrested at Palmerston North on March 20, 1934, he admitted ownership when questions at Nelson this month.

Burke appeared at the Magistrate’s Court, New Plymouth, yesterday enarged with breaking and entering the xNew Plymouth High behoofs Board office between May 27 and 29, 1933, and stealing £l4 Is Id and a strongroom key vaiued at 2s 6d, the property of the board. Evidence was heard and he was remanded to appear at New Plymouth on June 6.

Constable F. H. Healey, Blenheim, stated that he found a suitcase produced in Court lying on the bank of the Omaka River, Blenheim, on July 12. The suitcase was in an exposed position and could be seen by anybody. Burke was then in custody on a drunkenness charge. When questioned, Burke denied ownership of the suitcase. The suitcase was retained as found property and being unclaimed on November 5, he examined the contents. In the toes of a pair of socks was found a stick of gelignite and live detonators, neatly rolled up. In another pair were three detonators and in one sleeve of a sports coat two pieces of fuse. In another pair of socles he found a safe key, numbered 17865, and

three keys on a rir.g. There were also

in. the suitcase a spanner, wood chisel and a pair of crepe rubber soled sandshoes. Burke was released in July after the drunkenness charge had been disposed of and he did not see him again until May 30, when he was in custody at Nelson.

Detective F. Sinclair, Nelson, stated he received the suitcase and contents on January 14. Part of the clothing bore a laundry mark Fl. H.D. The chisel and spanner each had a distinct bend. In his opinion they had been used as levers or jemmies. The name of Burke was written on a pocket of one article of clothing. Burke was arrested at Palmerston North on March 20, 1934. On May 14 he saw Burke at Nelson and showed him the suitcase and contents. Burke admitted ownership. In regard to the keys Burke in a statement said he had been drinking at Blenheim in July, 1933, and had left his suitcase on the Orpaka River bank. The detonators and fuses were his and he had used these on Halcroft’s premises a night or so previously. He had found the keys on Lambton Quay on July 3 the date on which he crossed to Nelson. Burke said he was last at New Plymouth two years before and had stayed at the Grosvenor Hotel when Harry Holmes was proprietor. Burke denied being at New Plymouth in 1933 and said that in May of that year he had been working for a man named Donovan at Owango station near Castlepoint. . Burke questioned the detectives statement that the spanner had been used as a jemmy. Detective Sinclair replied that it had fitted into eleven distinct places at Halcroft’s premises when an attempt had been made to force entry. Mr. W. H. Woodward, S.M., was on the Bench.