EXPLOSIONS IN STREET.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20255, 15 May 1929, Page 12

EXPLOSIONS IN STREET.

TWO MANHOLES BLOWN OUT ; IRON COVERINGS SHATTERED. METAL SPREADS LIKE SHRAPNEL DELAY TO TRAM SERVICE. With loud detonations, accompanied by i vivid blue flashes, two iron manhole tops covering a system of electric cables in Hobson Street were blown out with terrific force about 11.30 o'clock last evening. The force of the explosion was such that the cast iron covering beneath the paving was shattered like so many pieces of shrapnel and scattered about the roadway for its full width. The metal m places was about two inches in thickness, but the fragments ranged in size from pieces of a pound or two in weight to mere splinters of iron.

The detonations were not simultaneous, one following the other at an interval of several minutes, according to eye-wit-nesses. Policemen on duty in tho quarter kept watch over tha holes with torches, warning motor traffic urttil tha 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 tho danger point, which lay just in the track of vehicles proceeding down Hobson Street.

The first explosion shook buildings in the vicinity to the foundation. The report awakened boarders in two hotels at the intersection on Hobson Street and Wellesley Street and both buildings, large concrete and brick structures, shuddered- under the force of the 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 Tramways 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 one of the large buildings in the vicinity. The report was so loud that h was heard distinctly as far away as the Three Lamps. The electric cables underground feed power to the overhead wires, and the blow-outs cut off power on the lines from the intersection of Queen Street and Customs Street practically to Pitt Street. Nine trams returning to the depot were held up in Customs Street until a partial service was restored shortly before 1 o'clock this morning. Another tramcar was without power in Hobson Street, near Victoria Street, for a similar period.