BROKEN CIRCUITS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23112, 10 August 1938, Page 12

BROKEN CIRCUITS

TELEGRAPH DELAYS MANY MAIN LINES SOUTH ISLAND CUT OFF PARTIAL RESTORATION [BY TELECRAPH —PRESS ASSOCIATION] WELLINGTON, Tuesday Storms in various parts of "the Dominion resulted in a serious liold-up to-day in tho distribution of telegraph traffic. The Telegraph Department advised at 12.50 p.m. that all telegraph and telephone circuits between Welling and Christchurcli were interrupted, due to a fault north of Kaikoura. It was later ascertained that tho trouble was caused by a pole falling down one mile north of Kaikoura. An ondeavour was made to obtain outlets via Groymouth, but this was not possible, because a tree had fallen across the lines near lleefton. Greymouth reports that a violent northerly gale, with heavy rain, is raging in that district. Radio in Emergency Emergency radio circuits were opened between Wellington and Christchurcli and between Wellington and Greymouth, and tho Awarua radio ay as utilised for urgent traffic. Faults developed on the Napier-Taupo-Auckland lines at 2 p.m., resulting in the loss of two main telegraph routes between Auckland and Wellington. The third and only remaining Auckland-Wellington circuit, via Napier and Taupo, was interrupted at 3 p.m., and line trouble also developed on the main trunk route between Ohakune and Palmerston North. There was some trouble on the lines north of New Plymouth, which affected the working of the Wellington-Auck-land circuit via that route. One Wellington-Auckland Line Thus 'the telegraph routes via the centre of the island and the east and west coasts were interrupted. However, one of the remaining Auckland-Welling-ton telephone carrier circuits is being diverted for voice frequency telegraphs, and this will give a full multiplex outlet (eight channels) to Auckland from Wellington. It was reported at approximately 4 p.m. that there was every prospect of regaining the circuity to Christchurch via Kaikoura shortly. In the meantime, Greymouth circuits were now working fairly satisfactorily and traffic was circulating for Christchurch and southern stations via that route. AUCKLAND DISTRICT ONLY MINOR TROUBLE WAIKATO INTERRUPTIONS EFFECT OF SOUTHERN BREAKS With the exception of one minor line interruption, telegraphic services in the widely-spread Auckland district were not affected by the storm. However, the dislocation which occurred in the south had repercussions in Auckland, and early last evening there was a delay of five hours on South Island traffic. No difficulty was experienced in working the circuits from Auckland to Whangarei in the north and to Hamilton and the Bay of Plenty and East Coast centres. However, it was reported in Auckland last night that the lines operating 0 between Hamilton and the districts in the east of the Waikato were out of order. There was considerable dislocation of telephone services throughout the district, and lines at Eureka, between Hamilton and Morrinsville, and between Tirau and Rotorua were put out of order by a violent gust shortly after eight o'clock. Although some of the North Island circuits were damaged, the use of alternate channels resulted in messages being transmitted between Auckland and Wellington with a minimum of delay. Telephone communication between Auckland and the South Island was not possible yesterday afternoon or last night until after 11 o'clock, when the first call was transmitted from Grevmouth to Auckland. With only limited facilities available to handle the large amount of postponed traffic, a continued delay in executing business was expected. ELECTRIC-POWER FAULT NORTH SHORE INTERRUPTION NO TELEPHONE .TO KAWAU A faulty insulator in a hip;h-tension electric-power line in the Waitcmata Electric-Power Board's area resulted in tho interruption of the power supply to part of Devon port and a portion of Takapuna for about 20 minutes last night. Tho fault was localised as soon as possible, and power was restored to the greater part of tho areas affected within 20 minutes, although a section of Takapuna was without light for about an hour and a-half. In view of the severity of the wind there was little electrical trouble in the area, parts of which were exposed to the gale. It was impossible to communicate with Kawau Island by telephone last night, a short-circuit having put tho lino from Auckland out of action.