POWER FAILURE IN NORTH

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28552, 3 April 1958, Page 14

POWER FAILURE IN NORTH

Half Of Island Cut Off (Netc Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON. April 2. Industry came to a halt for more than an hour when a fault in the State hydro-electric system cut off all power in the southern half of the North Island this afternoon. All areas south of Gisborne went out when, at 3 10 p.m.. a 220.000-volt line conductor broke at Waihi Hill near Tokaanu The cause of the breax is still unknown.

Normally, power would have been transferred immediately to a 220000-volt duplication line. But. today, this line was out of service for maintenance.

In Wellington, trams and trolley buses were halted and electric train services in the city and Hutt Valley were at a standstill. Trams stalled at intersections, caused traffic pile-ups. The express for Auckland moved away at 4.04 p.m.—34 minutes late.

Throughout the city, many people were trapped for long periods in lifts. Exhaust fans and lights in the Mount Victoria traffic tunnel failed to operate and exhaust fumes constituted a serious traffic hazard. Thousands of loaves of bread were ruined. Bread deliveries tomorrow will be late.

Shortly after the break occurred, it was found the duplicate 220,000-volt line could not be repaired to carry the broken line's load and authorities endeavoured to feed power into the southern North Island systems through a 110.000-volt circuit. Because of the amount of loading manv areas went with spasmodic or short supply till 4.12 p.m Full power was restored at 507 p m when the 220.000-volt duplication line under maintenance was brought in to take the full load

Street Appeal For Aged.— lt was thought that the final total for the street appeal of the Christchurch Aged People's Welfare Council would come close to £2OOO. the chairman of the executive (Dr. H. R. Donald) told the quarterly meeting of the council last evening More than £1936 had been received to date and all the money had not yet come to hand The council expressed its appreciation to all those who had assisted with the appeal