CITY ISOLATED

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 217, 11 June 1935, Page 10

CITY ISOLATED

Telegraph Wires Down In Canterbury MESSAGES BY RADIO Partial Restoration of Service Telegraphic communication between Wellington and Christchurch was restored at 9 o’clock last night, following the failure of communication early the previous eveniiv As a result of a severe snowstorm in Canterbury telegraph poles and wires were brought down and in many cases broken. For over 24 hours Christchurch was isolated so far as telegraphic and telephonic communication was concerned, con tact with stations to the' north, south and west of the city being completely lost. Messages for Christchurch and further south were transmitted by means of radio, the Post and Telegraph doing everything possible to minimise the inconvenience caused by the dislocation of the telegraph service.

Although contact has been re-estab-lished with Christchurch, the service to the immediate south of that city is still interrupted, and radio will have to be resorted to for messages beyond Christchurch until such time as normal communication is resumed. Serious damage is reported in the vicinity of Ashburton, and late last night it was doubtful whether the line would be sufficiently repaired to allow of the resumption of the usual service to-day. Heaviest for Years. The snowstorm in Canterbury was the heaviest experienced in that province for several years, the, collapse of telegraph and -telephone wires causing a complete dislocation' of these services. The telegraph engineer at Christchurch radioed as follows at 3 o’clock yesterday afternoon: “Heaviest snowstorm experienced here for years occuired Sunday evening. AU communication -fiorth and south lost. Approximately fifty poles down between Christchurch and Kaiapoi, and sixty between Christchurch and Dunsandel. Approximately 400 subscribers to Christchurch telephone exchange were affected, but this number has now been considerably reduced. District telephone exchanges are also badly affected. Full extent of damage not yet known, as communication with stations not yet established. Weather now beautifully fine.”

The Post and Telegraph Department line foreman at Amberley reported at 12.22 o’clock yesterday afternoon that all north lines were interrupted. Between Waikari aiid Hurunui one pole was down and there were breaks in the various wires throughout the whole length of the line. On Waipara Elat all wires were broken in nine places. Between Amberley and Leithfield 15 poles were down and there were five bad breaks south of Leithfield.

Communication between Wellington and the West Coast was maintained, no damage occurring to the telegraph lines on the Wellington, Nelson, Westport, Greymouth route. Trouble between Christchurch and Dariield prevented communication ’between Christchurch and the West Coast. Transmission of Business.

With the failure of land-liue communication between Wellington and Christchurch ou Sunday evening, telegraphic business between those cities and further south was transmitted by radio. Messages for Christchurch were sent direct, and those for places south of that city were sent via the Awarua radio station, near Invercargill. All of Sunday’s business was disposed of in that way. Christchurch messages, as well as those for places in the southern end of the South Island, were transmitted in the same way yesterday, but messages for Dunedin were sent first to Blenheim and messages for Timaru to Nelson, and then sent by radio from those stations.

Telegraphic busiuess between Wellington and Christchurch is normally handled by two Murray multiplex machines, and it was possible to bring one of these into use again at 9 o’clock last night. For stations south of. Christchurch the radio had to be used.' Radio traffic was handled between Wellington and Christchurch, Wellington and Awarua, and Greymouth and Timaru. The Blenheim station was not used last night. Conditions for successful shortwave operation frequently vary as between night and day, and those stations were used which gave tlie best results. Most of the Dunedin messages were sent by telegraph to Greyiuouth. From there they were sent to Timaru by radio, and then on to Dunedin by land-line. Even though contact was again established with Christchurch the radio service between tlie two cities was utilised to augment tlie service. At 11 o’clock last night 2YA broadcast a summary of yesterday’s cable news for the benefit of newspapers south of Christchurch.