FIRE AFTER BURGLARY

Taranaki Daily News, 19 August 1935, Page 6

FIRE AFTER BURGLARY

POST OFFICE DESTROYED BROKEN SAFE FOUND ON ROAD. £lOOO DAMAGE CAUSED AT KUMEU. WIDESPREAD POLICE SEARCH. By Telegraph—Press Association. Auckland, Last Night. Damage estimated at About £lOOO was done by fire which broke out shortly after thieves had visited the coriibiiihd post and telegraph office at Kurneu eatly this morning and removed the office safe. The building, which housed the telephone exchange serving Kumeu and district, was destroyed, and .with it was burned a quantity of mail intended for rural delivery. Although detectives commenced an inquiry and made widespread investigation throughout the day no arrests have been made. The safe with its heavy door torn from the hinges was found At the side of the road between Taupaki and Waitakere. The contents of the drawers and two cash boxes, a small sum of money and a quantity of postage and unemployment stamps of a total value of about £24 were missing, although the safe still contained a number of books and office records which were slightly damaged as the result of exposure to weather. It has not been established definitely whether the fire was caused deliberately or whether it followed an unsuccessful attempt to blow open the safe. Whatever its Cause the outbreak occurred shortly after the safe had been removed by the thieves, who made their raid between midnight and 1.30 a.m. The fire was first'noticed by Dr. Harris, whose home is a short distance from the post office. Members of his household said the building, a small wooden structure of two rooms, wAs a mass of flames when they first noticed the outbreak. Nothing could be done to extinguish the flames, which were fanned by a boisterous westerly wind and carried toward a telegraph pole outside the post office. The pole was charred almost from top to bottom and the cross-bars carrying the wires were partly, consumed. The postmistress, Miss Wright, Who lives at Huapai, was roused by Dr. Harris and was driven to Waitakere, the nearest telephone exchange, to report the fire, which up to that stage was believed to be purely accidental. On the return trip, however, the driver of the car noticed what .he took to be a large box at the side of the road between Waitakere and Taupaki. He stopped to investigate and found the safe from the post office, broken open and rifled. Two cash boxes, both fofcCd open, and two drawers, which had been wrenched from the inside of the’ safe, were nearby. Although it is obvious that a motorcar or truck was used to carry the safe from Kumeu to where it was found about four, miles aWay the police received no reports Of any motor vehicle having been stolen. The work of restoring telephone communication was commenced by a telegraph gang about 3 o’clock while the wreckage of the post office was still smouldering, and by 8 o’clock one toll line was available for use. Arrangements were made to set up a temporary telephone exchange in the waiting room at the Kumeu railway station a short distance away from the poAt office, and the necessary equipment was taken from Auckland with all possible dispatch.- . ■ - The post office at Kumeu had been broken into twice previously in about the last five years.