6000-VOLT CABLE CUT

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 74, 21 December 1937, Page 18

6000-VOLT CABLE CUT

Severed By Rifle Bullets

By Telegraph—Press Association.

Christchurch, December 20.

Last, night bullets from a small-bore rifle cut, a 6000-volt cable supplying Waimari county with electricity, and left consumers without power and light for between two and three hours. The cable was severed near an insulator, and it fell on to a gorse fence. When linesmen, sent out to find the break, arrived at about 9 o’clock, they located the cable by a stream of crackling blue sparks leaping from the wire on to a wet hedge. Power was cut off at a nearby switch-box and temporary repairs were made. The break occurred about 7 o’clock, and power was restored by 10 o’clock. Permanent repairs were effected to-day. 'The incident recalls discussion at a recent meeting of the council, when Mr. W. P. >S[»eneer drew attention to the wholesale shooting in the county. “Shooting around Spencerville Road and Stewart’s Gully is a menace to human life,” he said. “Gunmen travel in ears, onq man driving and the other shooting. 'l’hey look like a picture of tlie war in China. Insulators are smashed and our telephones are out of order half the time.” He added that houses in the district were riddled with bullets.