BIG BREACH IN WELLESLEYSTREET.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVI, Issue 9436, 6 August 1889, Page 5

BIG BREACH IN WELLESLEYSTREET.

A NEWLY-DISCOVERED CAVERN. At about noon yesterday the wheel of a dray sunk deeply into a hole in Wellesleystreet, just on the junction of Wellesley and Lorne-streets. At first the matter created little surprise, for this main artery drain has so often shown that it was either badly designed or badly constructed, that few were astonished that there should be a collapse. But the collapse was of such a character, ifc astonished all who saw ib, and so did the precarious nature of the road over which so many thousands travel daily. When the wheol of a dray sunk through the surface of the road, right on the centre of the tram-line, at about noon, the aperture was small, sny, about three feet long by two feet wido, but an examination showed that the whole strength of the road consisted of about six inches of metal, and beneath there was a horrible cavifey 20 feet in depth, and more than that in diameter, and the staring clay was visible for a long distance The surfaco clay of the road had been washed away, so α-lso was the crown of the sewer, and the sewer itself collapsed, carrying bottom and all away, leaving the City Council to discover how past blunders may be rectified, and a good drain made through Wellesley-street. The City Council employes exhibited commendable care in fencing in tho dangerous opening, but it required a posse of constables to keep a crowd from rushing inside the rails, on to the dangerous ground. The Tramway Company soon saw the difficulty, and until tho road is repaired, the cars for Epsom and Newmarket, as well as those for Pons»onby, will take the road through Wellesley-street West, and diverge at the junction of Pitt-street and Karangahapo Road.