ROAD EXPLOSION

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23183, 1 November 1938, Page 8

ROAD EXPLOSION

ELECTRIC-POWER FAULT

REMUERA OCCURRENCE \ NO GREAT DAMAGE CAUSED EARLIER ITAYOC RECALLED Only a stone's throw from the block of shops which was wrecked by a violent explosion on the morning of January 9, a further explosion, due to a fault in an underground electric cable, occurred immediately outside the premises of the Puritan Homo Cookery in T\! emu era Road, opposite the Remuera Post Office, shortly before ten o'clock last- night. Foiir fire engines arrived at the scene, but, although flames were rising from the pavement in front of the shop, the services of the .firemen were not required. Members of the staff of the Auckland Electric-Power Board were also quickly summoned and, by switching off the current in the affected area, they were able to remove the possibility of danger before any great damage was caused. « <•■■■ : Premises Shaken The explosion and the subsequent outburst of flames provided an unwelcome experience for the occupants of near by premises: Mr.P. ; H. Partridge, proprietor of the Puritan Home Cookery, was in. the. Jiving quarters above the shop when the, explosion occurred, and his assistant, Mr. W. Holehouse, was in the shop itself. The explosion according to both Mr. Partridge and Mr. Holehouse, was of sufficient force to shake the premises, and the men rushed to the street to find flames issuing from the bitumen pavement. , Mr. Holehouse immediately recalled that a quantity of wax stands and other ornaments for wedding cakes was stored in a recess beneath the shop window and, fearing that they might cause a serious fire if the flames spread inside the shop, he immediately removed them to the back of the building. Precautions by Workmen

After the arrival of the power board workmen who switched off the current, the bitumen pavement fronting the shop was ripped up to prevent any possible accumulation of explosive gases. The only actual damage caused by the explosion was the cracking of a corner of one of the plate glass windows in Mr. Partridge's shop. Mr. G. N. Downs, who occupies a flat above the block of shops where the explosion occurred, said his first thought was that a heavy lorry had run into the front of the building. The effects of the explosion were immediately noticed in the Tudor Cinema, which is only a few doors from Mr. Partridge's shop. There was a flickering of the light on the, screen for a few minutes, but then the theatre's emergency electrical plant was brought into operation and the programme proceeded without, interruption. However, the vestibule lights were out of action and members of the audience subsequently found their way out of the theatre by the beams of electric torches and the headlights of motorcars.