THE EXPLOSION AT WOOLWICH.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 6176, 6 April 1907, Page 5

THE EXPLOSION AT WOOLWICH.

(From Our Special Correspondent.) LONDON, Feb. 22. Tho astonishing feature of tho explosion at Woolwich Arsenal a few' nights ago was that nohody was killed or even injured. Tho explosion occurred in a magazine stored with cordite, near tho boundary of the Arsenal ground on Plumstead Marshes. The cordite went off with a deafening roar, and tho concussion must have been terrific.; The building itself was reduced to a heap of ruins, and other parts of the Arsenal w T ero considerably damaged. One of the stands on the Arsenal’Football Ground had the back completely torn away and the roof destroyed. A piece of masonry weighing oewt was found 500 yards from where tho cordite had dislodged it. The Arsenal gasometer was damaged, and thousands of feet of gas escaped. • The force of the explosion caused an enormous breakage of windows throughout tho whole length of the High street and the portion of Flumstead road nearest tho Marshes, and in some of

the adjoining streets. The concussion was felt as far away as Bishop Storl* ford, in Hertfordshire. At Ilford, in Essex, a largo plate-glass window was blown out. At Romford windows and crockery wore broken in many houses, and the same thing occurcd at Leyton. At Woodford and Wanstead tho. church hells were heard to ring. In all the places named people woro awakened from sleep, and many rush' ed out into the streets. At Walthamstow a resident was roused by a series of crashes, and found a largo over, mantel, marble clock, and ornaments in fragments on the floor. Eye-witnesses of tho scone which followed the explosion describe it as ono of panic. Windows were thrown up, and soared householders, half-dressod, made their way into tho streets, wliero shouting, the harking.of dogs, and the crash of falling , glass added to tho sense of terror. People hastily mado their way to tho Arsenal gates, for all guessed what had occurred. Here they were speedily assured by the policemen on duty that it was not believed that anyone had been killed or injured, a report which was confirmed an hour later by the Assistant Superintendent of the Royal Laboratory. PlumsteatJ road was quickly as crowded as it usually is in the working hours of the day, and the news that the catastrophe was unaccompanied by loss of life was tho subject of mutual congratulation among tho residents. They had less reason for content when, after the first excitement, they surveyed their premises. In ad' dition to the shattered windows, numerous case's are reported of windowscracked, falls of plaster, and the smashing of breakable articles. Doors were blown open and latches wrenched away. 7 n one case in PJumstcad road a dividing wall between two bedrooms collapsed, and momentarily blinded the occupants with dust. In the rooms were sleeping several young men, assistants in 1 lie drapery store underneath. The pavements wore littered with splintered glass and fragmentsof wood and mortar. When the first alarm had subsided, shopkeepers and their households and assistants were busy clearing away the debris, and a .timber merchant, with a quick eye to business, opened his store, where lie was quickly inundated with orders for hoarding to nail across shop-fronts. Plate-glass insurance companies avail, ed of tho occurrence to advertise their business, and flashes of humour were not wanting to relievo the serious side of the question. A pawnbroker hangout a placard bearing tho legend, “JS T o glass; plenty brass;” and in front of an eating-house where every vestige of tho shop .window had disappeared was a notice, in large letters; ‘AVc are blown out; come in and wo will blow you out/ 1

It was a great piece of good for. tuno that tho explosion did not take place in the day-time. Some four hundred men are employed in the day' time in what is known as the danger zone, in which tho wrecked building stood, apd it is matter for tbe utmost congratulation that tbo exnlosion took place at a time when the place was deserted, except by a few policemen and watchmen on duty. Fortunately, none of these happened to be at the timo in the immediate vicinity of the. magazine. Another congratulatory feature is that the magazine, which rvas tho strongest building of the chemical research block, was surrounded by a broad, high mound of turf, which must have very greatly diminshed the possibilities of damage to structures lying beyond. During Sunday night fow men are employed at tho Arsenal, and when the disaster occurred those employed at making up the fires had left. Tho explosion will throw about 150 men out of employment, as tho research buildings in their present condition are not considered safo ; -