ROAD SUBSIDENCE

Evening Star, Issue 23292, 14 June 1939, Page 8

ROAD SUBSIDENCE

CAVERN APPEARS IN FILLEUL STREET WHAT HAPPENED TO THE SOIL? Dunedin’s first air raid shelter was opened to tho public this morning along Filleul street, at the foot of Cargill street. The opening ceremony took the form of the appearance of a small hole in the asphalt in the centre of the road, barely wider than the entrance to a rabbit’s burrow. Within an hour or two this opening had increased to about 2ft in width, and it now revealed a vast cavern under the surface of what appeared to be solid roadway. The hole could comfortably have accommodated several men, and it is expected that at least seven yards of material will be necessary to fill it in Exactly what could have caused such a subsidence is not known. There is an underground stream in the vicinity, and a few months back some flooding was experienced , nearby. Either of these factors might have been responsible. The clay and rock comprising the walls of this “ cave ” are lined with a kind of fungus which indicates that the subsidence is not of recent origin. Actually the road here was last opened in 1926, when a storm water drain was installed, and some time since that period the hole has formed. Probably for a longer period than they might care to think drivers of vehicles have been driving heedlessly over a wide crust of asphalt no more than two or three inches in thickness. It seems amazing that no serious accident has resulted.

It was apparent that the corporation authorities did not realise the extent of the trouble, for when the original small hole was inspected early in the morning instructions were issued to reseal it. While a ‘ Star ’ representative was gazing into the subterranean cavern a tractor and truck belonging to the corporation arrived on the scene On board were a spade, a rake, and a tin or two of tar. The arrival of this equipment seemed most ludicrous when the hole itself would have taken in the truck and tractor and housed them easily, and even the driver had to admit that he “ just didn’t see what he could do.” ' The point is; Where did the clay and soil go when the subsidence occurred? It has disappeared most effectively, and the suggestion made by one onlooker that maybe rats had been busy just does not seem to bo quite good enough! Someone else suggested it was “ merely Nature,” which rather made further argument unnecessary. However, the occurrenc© provided a small army t of men with a good deal of work, besides arousing doubts in the minds of passing drivers as to the solidity of other parts of the city streets.