DEEP LEVELS FLOODED.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXIV, Issue 16359, 1 October 1913, Page 6

DEEP LEVELS FLOODED.

WATER DRIVES THAMES MINERS OUT. A THOUSAND FEET DOWN. [From Our Correspondent.] AUCKLAND, September 30. A large flow of water, evidently with a considerable pressure behind it, was intersected m tho main thousand-foot crosscut of tho Thames Deep Levels this morning. Tho men had just fired a round of shots when they saw the timbers move. Then tlie water came, and it was decided to make for safety. It is believed that the main Moanataiari slide, which traverses the whole Thames goldfield, has been again intersected. Tho big pumping plant should be able to deal with the water. So rapid was the flow of water that all work had to be suspended and the men withdrawn. Some time back a similar development took place in tho_ main crosscut, a large flow of water with considerable pressure behind it being struck. was decided to divert the route of the crosscut so as to avoid tho danger of cutting through the slide, and a deviation was made seawards. The crosscut was advanced 493 ft from tlio point of deviation. On Mr E. F. Adams’s plan of the Thames goldfield, which shows tho approximate position of the Moanataiari slido at the 1000 ft level, the main slido is placed near tho Waiotahi shaft. It swings seaward from tho Moanataiari ground, traversing that property hillward of the old Trenton shaft and entering the Waiotahi ground on its eastern boundary. On tho other hand it is possible that tho flow of water may bo the footwall reef of tlio Waiotahi" which is shown ahead on the same plan. This lodo is marked just about where tho face of the crosscut is at the present. At eight o’clock this morning the water had rison 4ft above the flat sheet at the bottom of the Hauraki shaft. Tho speed of the pump had been increased from seven to seventeen strokes per minute, which will give some indication of the largo quantity of water to bo dealt with. At noon another measure showed tlio water standing at 4ft 4in above tho flat sheet. It- is believed, that, the pump will soon bo able to bold tlio water and that a gradual lowering will follow.