Vandals Caused Power Failure

Press, Volume C, Issue 29609, 4 September 1961, Page 12

Vandals Caused Power Failure

Vandals who shot to pieces an insulator on a power pylon in South Canterbury on Saturday afternoon caused interruptions to the power supply to a large part of the South Island.

Fourteen units of an insulator on the main Roxburgh-Islington transmission line in the Opihi river bed, near Pleasant Point, were shattered by high-velocity bullets. The line’s failure, at 4.35 p.m., caused overloads on the remaining lines and numerous overload switches tripped, cutting off power. The line was carrying a large portion of the load from Roxburgh.

The areas affected by power cuts were Christchurch city. North and South Canterbury, Nelson, Marlborough and the West Coast. Most of the load was restored by 6.30 p.m. but it was not until the Saturday evening peak had passed that the power supply returned to normal. The interruptions would have been much longer but for the prompt action of Mr B. W. Moore, a Waitohi farmer, who saw a flash as the line hit the ground. He immediately notified the Timaru sub-station and linesmen were directed to the trouble spot. Mr Moore’s action saved many hours of patrolling the 200 - mile stretch of line. Repairs were made and the system restored to normal at 12.14 a.m. yesterday. Police Investigations The matter has been officially reported to the police and investigations are under way. Mr J. A. Hannah, Electricity Department distribution engineer at Timaru. spent most of yesterday in the area ccncerned trying to get evidence about the shooting. “I interviewed farmers in the area in an effort to get a line on the culprits, but they were unable to provide much concrete information,” said Mr Hannah last night. ‘‘The shooting was heard by several farmers, but, of course, the vandals had the advantage of a lot of cover around the river bed."

Electricity Department feeder lines to the Municipal Electricity Department were cut. and when part of the load was restored, the M.E.D was directed from time to time to reduce its load, said ‘he general manager of the M.E.D. (Mr G. H. Battersby) yesterday The sub-station in Greers road, Papanui, could not be overloaded and as a result Fendalton, Burnside and

other parts of the Waimairi county were cut off longer than o'her- city areas. Some areas were without power for only 20 minutes; other districts were not restored until 8 p.m. or 9 p.m. Water heating was cut off by the M.E.D. at times to relieve the load and some of the street lights fed from the Papanui sub-station were not lit for some time after normal. Shops In Darkness Shops in New Brighton, crowded with Saturday evening shoppers, were plunged into darkness by the power cut. One department store manager said he believed there was some shoplifting which was not detected. There was little interference with the Christchurch Drainage Board's pumping stations and only a short interruption to telegraphic communcation before the stand-by plant at the Chief Post Office began generating. Some viewers on Channel 3 feared their television sets had gone “completely haywire.” In many homes when the programme went off it was some minutes before most thought of trying the light. Sets in districts with power had surges which created some startling effects on screens. At times picture images seemed to be melting and about to drip and there were chaotic flashes of black and white pattern. The broadcast of the Canterbury - Auckland Rugby match at Lancaster Park was interrupted by the break and later when Christchurch radio studios were without power, broadcas’s were made direct from Gebbie’s Pass. The failure caused no serious interruption at the Industries Fair in the Show Grounds. The standby generator cut in automatically. But the sideshows were without power and a number of persons were stranded on the big wheel for about 10 minutes.