MINE FIELD LAID

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 376, 9 June 1928, Page 13

MINE FIELD LAID

“SOMEONE MAY LOSE LIMB”

SCHOOLBOYS’ HOLIDAY PRANK

There is something of a minefield out near the Mount Albert Grammar School, according to the police, and people who cross it would be advised to step warily.

The two boys responsible for converting harmless pasture into danger zone, came before the Children’s Court this morning. They were 10 and 12 years of age and they had done quite a lot of dabbling with high explosives. During the school holidays, Detec-tive-Sergeant Kelly explained, the two lads had gone “roaming” together. They broke into a shed in the Grammar School grounds by smashing a window, and took some lemonade and Defence Department property, including cleaning rods. “Then they broke into a quarry,” continued the detective-sergeant. “They smashed the lock with a pick and found gelignite and detonators inside. The gelignite they put in a tunnel and then they took 720 deonators and scattered them round a paddock next to the school.” “About 500 of the detonators have been recovered, but 220 of them are lying there to the danger of anyone crossing the field. A detonator explodes with a force of 701 b to the square inch, and anyone who steps on . one must be prepared to lose a limbi” The boys both had good homes, said Sergeant Kelly, and they had been soundly thrashed by their parents. The sum of £1 9s Id had to be made up. Mr. E. C. Cutten, S.M., to the boys: Do you realise that someone may lose a limb through your misdeed? “They were also trying to set fire to the gelignite with matches, little knowing that they might have been blown to pieces,” said Mr. Kelly. Mr. Cutten: If your parents had known of that their hair would have been standing straight on end all the time. The parents were ordered to pay the money owing and the boys were admonished and discharged.