SHOP FRONT WRECKED.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 102, 2 May 1929, Page 18

SHOP FRONT WRECKED.

EXPLOSION IN QUEEN STREET ELECTRIC CABLE FUSED. SHOWER OF PLATE,GLASS. ;; J f? — —; I Smoke spiralling up from a crack in the pavement heralded an alarming explosion at the corner -of Queen and Customs. Streets last evening just as "the five o ? clock rush homewards was at its height. Fortunately, the-danger signal was seen and understood by the "traffic policeman on point duty, and he <and the 'police kept tlie crowd back and directed pedestrians on to the roadway. It was just in front of . the pork butchery of R. Chesney, Ltd.,- that the telltale little trail of smoke issued. In spite of the warning, two young men, "with that insatiable curiosity exemplified in the desire to f.eel whether the sign, "Wet paint," is ,ti : ue, insisted upon; pressing' on the footpath, They had .not got much, beyond the,- kerb when there was a terrific "Bang!," just like an H.E. shell. A slab of ..the pavement went upwards, the window of the pork ibutchery flew outwards in a thousand (splinters, and the concussion made . a mayonnaise of the contents of the window—pork pies, sausages,;' roast fowls, pickles, lard, and aIF tlie ''othcr edibles displayed by such shops. The odd thing about the blow-up, to the layman at all events, was that the !huge plate-glass shop window blew outiwards, -instead of inwards. One man iwalking along the tram track in the rmiddle of the roadway was hit on the ankle by a- piece of flying glass, and he 1 ihad to be taken to the hospital to have at dressed. That was the only casualty, 'strange to say. With such a crowd about, it was remarkable that no one else was hit.

Fire burst out in the cable ,box, which "was the cause of the explosion, and it spread under the pork butchery, but •was quickly extinguished by -the fire* brigade,'! The assistants in Chesney's appeared to have a wonderful escape. : The marble counter was cracked in several places, and the girls received a terrible shock when the explosion burst, but jno one was injured, and the damage inside the shop was very little considering, the force that wrecked the shop front. Every Ibit of glass went west, the copper frames of the window were or twisted, and some glass in neighbouring shops, those of Mr. W. Coleman, tobacconist, .and Mr. W. R. Taylor, chemist, also broken. ' ' •ss%. k' ( The Cause. s : fv It was obvious that the street cable running under the pavement, and close alongside Chesney's, hadsshort-circuited;-there have been other instances .of ; the kind in J-the city. Seen this morning, the Auckland Power Board stated that the cause was • the. same as an the case of the fire at-the Queen and Quay Streets —-a fault in the cable. Evidently water had penetrated, and that had caused a short-circuit. The cable had been down about 17 years, rnd as far as could be told it was in good condition. A service- joint was made in the vicinity about, four months ago, -and the cable was then in very igood order. This morning, when it was inspected, the rest of it was in good order, with nothing to indicate the. pre*, sence. ofv such a fault as cause such an >5 This ;: matter was dealt with genera! manager to the board (Mr. fR. H. Bartley ) in his last annual jo port, and the- following what ijrljeing donei "We are not closr ; sng our. eyes to the fact that the- direct Current iiietwork has been rather some during the past year, and :! our investigations prove conclusively that the whole of the trouble experienced (with reference to faults}"" is in the earlier mains laid, ; ,by; the department. The principle adopted, in those days was no doubt pracffcice, and as far as the preservation of fthe mains themselves is concerned—with the exception of weak patches—they be in perfect order. There as no doubt, however, in my mind that T.B. cables laidvsolid . m bitumen, par-, iacularly when wooden bridges and Twooden troughing are,used, is a mistake, notwithstanding, the fact that this iprinciple will be,'found in almost every 3arge electric supply.: undertaking, and <even to-day opinions, of engineers are in support of this method." Chesney's shop" was insured in the Insurance Office of Australia, being covered by policies on the windows and the »t>ock.

It will be remembered that a similar occurred/'in front of Kean's, 2Dtd., Corner of Quay-and Queen Streets, <one Sunday morning in April of last ;ycar, considerable damage' being done ifco the ishop fronts in the vicinity. Amazing Escapes. f It is a miracle that someone was riot Skilled by the flying plate-glass from •Cheaney's window.' Mr. H. P. Andrew, headmaster of the Curran • Street.. who was the only one to' be 'injured, hvas walking down the road;-on the ti-am rails. He was struck in several places, and so was Mrs. Andrew and iseveral others. There were some 'forty, people round aboitt Mr. Andrew when, he got hit on the' ankle, and though they must have, been hit, it is presumed that they must have been, hit with'the 'flat of the hurtling pieces, for if they had been caught by a piece of plater* .glass on edge —it. is about a-quarter of;an inch thick—they- would • have been •badly wounded. That piece that hit Mr. Andrew cut through the leather: of his boot, and he ■was bleeding so profusely that he was taken to the neighbouring chemist and then sent to the'hospital to have the injury dressed. This morning the foot was X-rayed at the hospital, and fortunately no further damage beyond the <cut was revealed. . •