AFTERMATH OF THE STORM

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22345, 17 February 1936, Page 12

AFTERMATH OF THE STORM

Sir, —.Undoubtedly the stormy conditions of the first February week-end have been responsible for ■widespread damage to public property and utilities, and various bodies of men are getting duo credit for their efforts in restoring matters to normal. One public utility which suffered severely was the electricity supply, and some wonderful stories were read of the cause of the power failure. When Nature decides to unleash herself, she has little respeci for the works of mere man, and it so happened that a section of the power transmission lines, with their supporting insulators, were in the path of a deluge of salt spray. Any electrical engineer, whose duties include tne operation and maintenance of bignvoltage transmission lines, knows tn® effect of salt spray on the glazed surfaces of the transmission line insula* tors. Stories have been told of tu® efforts exerted by the linesmen of tn® Post and Telegraph Department an the Auckland Electric-Power Board t restore services to normal, but no spared a word of praise for the linesmen of the Public Works Departmen It requires a great deal of skill, tackle 60-foot steel towers with suspension insulators, and no cross-arm to * ■ on while an examination is made an the defective units of a string or 1sulators in suspension olianged. upwa of 300 steel towers were climbed, seeral of them more than once, and • insulators examined and wiped cl ®. of salt deposit. The linesmen or * Public Works Department have worfcea as hard as any body of men to rest services to normal, but they arc a disadvantage inasmuch as they nre , jbidden by regulations to express opinions publicly. Ceedit Whebe Do'*