GASOMETERS

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LX, Issue 11044, 18 February 1933, Page 3

GASOMETERS

LITTLE FEAR OP EXPLOSION IN N.Z. Wellington, Feb. 14 There is little, if any, possibility of a gas explosion of the magnitude of that which is reported from Neunkirchen, in the Saar Valley, occurring in New Zealand. That is the opinion of the chief inspector of explosives, Mr R. Girling Butcher, who said the chances of such an occurrence in New Zealand were so remote as to be almost an impossibility. Through lack of technical details in the cablegram telling the tragic story of the exploson, Mr Girling Butcher was unable to discuss the possible cause. He is firmly of the opinion, however, that the container did not hold coal gas, but probably water gas. He said that coal gas,'to become explosive, needed the additional of six times as much air as gas. If coal gas became dilated to such an extent the fact would be well known to the workmen, because of the difficulty of maintaining the service. He pointed out that when Scarborough was shelled by German cruisers during the war, a shell landed on top of a gasometer, nstead of an explosion following, the gas merely burned. Storage of Petrol. The cablegram attributed the cause of the great explosion to a minor explosion in a petrol tank. Such an accident could not happen in New Zealand, because the petrol storage regulations prevented petrol being stored close to gas holders. Speaking of general conditions in respect to gas containers in New Zealand, Mr Girling Butcher said all gasometers were of modern design, and gave no cause for alarm. The gas companies had to maintain them well, in their own interests, for leaks represented losses. All New Zealand gas works were in good situations, in that they were set in fairly large areas of ‘ 3)and, some distance from houses. One other way in which New Zealand was fortunate was that it was not a country subject to severe lightning, and so another risk was greatly reduced. “It simply amounts to this,” he said. “It is next door to impossible for a gasometer to explode. Coal gas is the only gas which is stored In any Quantity in New Zealand, the number of works manufacturing 6ther gases being very small.”