TELEGRAPH LINES DOWN

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19377, 12 July 1926, Page 8

TELEGRAPH LINES DOWN

f INTERRUPTION IN THE SOUTH. SERIOUS DISORGANISATION." LONG DELAY TO MESSAGES. The most serious disorganisation of the North Island telegraph and telephone services for nine years occurred yesterday as a result of the boisterous weather. Damage to the overhead lines both north and south of Auckland on Saturday night limited communication yesterday afternoon to intermediate telegraph offices between Auckland and Hamilton, and Auckland and Warkworth. Fitful telegraph communication was only established with Wellington after every circuit had been tried. The interruption of Southern communication was due to breaks at Cambridge and Te Awamutu. A pole was razed at Te Awamutu, bringing down the combined telegraph and telephone wires. At Cambridge, a tree was blown across the cables and a complete break resulted. Of the four normal routes to Hamilton, .only one .could be worked. This served for both telegraph and telephone communications, and was operated with some congestion in spite of the light week-end demands. linesmen were despatched to the broken sections at Cambridge and Te Awamutu and at 6 p.m. a test at the Auckland station indicated that a connection had been established. For about half an hour spasmodic communication was maintained with Wellington, the service then failing, until the circuit was again completed after 8 p.m. Although the lino was still very unsatisfactory during the next few hours, -Wellington was worked. There was considerable delay to messages from Wellington and the accumulation of work was not overtaken until a late hour. Attempts to communicate with Rotorua, Tauranga and Thames proved futile. The Northern telegraph offices were closed as usual for th» week-end, so that the break did not affect this service. Two poles were blown down about nine miles south of Warkworth early yesterday morning, but a temporary repair, effected during the day, made' communication possible with this locality. Whangarei could not be reached at any time yesterday. CABLE ITEWS SEBVICE AETECTED. HERALD'S ARRANGEMENTS. The interruption of the inland telegraph lines also prevented the trimsmission from Wellington of cable news received by the Press Association over the Eastern route. To ensure a full service of overseas news the Hkrau) made special arrangements for the cabling of all the delayed messages from Sydney by the Pacific cable to Auckland. By thia means full reports of the test cricket match, the Rugby football match in Sydney and a considerable volume of other items were obtained in time for publication. ORIGIN OF THE STORM. TWO CENTRES OF ENERGY. SIGNS OF IMPROVEMENT. • ypt- 3 ;-.' ; ' Some interesting details of the peculiarities and course of the Severe cyclonic disturbance experienced during the week-end were given yesterday by Mr. H. M. Vincent, whose weather forecasts appear regularly in the Herai/o. Mr. Vincent said the cyclone had its origin in the vicinity of New Caledonia, and the storm centre became more 1 pronounced during the movement, of the disturbance through the tropics, becoming considerably intensified near Norfolk Island. The barometric gradient associated with the storm was very steep, the difference in atmospheric pressure between East Cape and Cape Maria at 9 a.m. on Saturday being nearly threequarters of an inch. The force of the severe squalls blowing into this depression, created by the uneven distribution of atmospheric pressure, was intense, the wind attaining a velocity approaching 80 miles an hour at times. A somewhat unusual- feature, said MrVincent, was the sudden development of a second centra of enorgy in the disturbance, these conditions being shown. on the barometric chart recorded by the barograph. A temporary sharp rise in the barometer was followed by a further fall yesterday afternoon. He said the disturbance was now expected to move in a south-easterly direction away from the Dominion, and conditions should be much improved by this evening. Atmospheric pressure would then be increasing and fine weather, attended by southerly winds, would follow. The rainfall over the week-end was not particularly heavy, although it was fairly continuous from about 6 o'clock on Saturday evening, and at midnight the total for the 48 hours was 1.82 in. The barometer had risen slightly to 29.45 in, at midnight, but it still showed signs of falling again.