AUCKLAND RECEIVES RUDE AWAKENING

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6912, 18 May 1929, Page 18 (Supplement)

AUCKLAND RECEIVES RUDE AWAKENING

TWO MANHOLES BLOWN OUT. IKON COVERINGS SHATTERED. With loud detonations, accompanied by vivid blue flashes, two iron manhole tops covering a system of electric cables iu Hobson street were blown out with terrific force about 11.30 o clock on Tuesday evening. The force of the explosion was suen that the cast iron covering beneath the paving was shattered like so man} pieces of shrapnel and scattered about the roadway for its full width. The metal in places was about two inches ia thickness, but the fragments ranged iu size from pieces of a pound or two iu weight to mere splinters of iron. The detonations were not simultaneous, one following the other at an interval of several minutes, according to eyewitnesses. Policemen on duty in the quarter kept watch over the holes with torches, warning motor traffic until the arrival of repair gangs. Had it not been for this timely precaution a serious motor accident might have occurred, for several motorists passing the affected area shortly afterwards were directed away from the danger point, which lay just in the track of vehicles proceeding down Hobson stret. The first explosion shook the buildings in the vicinity to the foundation. The report awakened boarders in two hotels at the intersection of Hobson street and Wellesley street and both buildings, large concrete and brick structures, shuddered under the force of tho explosion. The licensee of the Albion Hotel was standing at the corner a few feet away from one of the manholes shortly before the explosion and had walked to the door when he heard the report. He said the ground shook perceptibly beneath his feet. The first on the scene of the blow-out was Constable Campbell, who advised the Power Board and Tramway authorities. Sergeant Burnett was on duty at the top of Victoria street when the explosion occurred and his first thought was that burglars were attempting to wreck a safe in the vicinity. The report was so loud that it was heard distinctly as far away as the Three Lamps. The electric cables underground feed pow-er to the overhead wires, and the blow-outs cut off power on the lines from tho intersection of Queen street and Customs street practically to Pitt street. Nine trams returning to tho depot were held up in Customs street until a partial service was restored shortly before 1 o’clock on Wednesday morning. Another tramcar was without power in Hobson street, near Victoria street, for a similar period.