Our Clock.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XVII, Issue 5208, 15 February 1892, Page 4

Our Clock.

(Duneclin Globe's Melbourne Correspondenfc.) The great- clock at the Melbourne General Post Office lias for the past two years occasioned more trouble probably than any department in the huge building. The clock was to have been a grand affair one of the grandest in the world, or something of that kind—but somehow things went wrong—they always have "•one wrong in connection with that clock -—and instead of being one of the grandest in the world, it is the most ridiculous affair imaginable, and has cost as much money as a first-class steamboat. First, the glass for the dials had to be imported, theifthe carrilons, or bells. After that the machinery went wrong, and so, one way and another, hundreds of pounds have been spent upon the clock over and above the cost price. And all this time the clock has been playing such pranks before hisrli heaven as must surely have made the angels weep. At about 20 minutes past the hour it will wake up with an ominous rumbling sound and commence to strike—perhaps one, or maybe 20, according to—heaven alone knows what rule, certainly not the indicated time. And then this horological curiosity will grind out slabs of its musical collection at the most inopportune times, and with an autocratic indifference to the harrowed feelings of the public, which is simply appalling. When the eight hours procession was passing the Post Office some months ago the clock suddenly gave its "warning shudder, and then after a pause, during which every man felt like a criminal on the drop, so acute was the suspense, the clock remark ed—'' Work boys work and be contented/' But here the combined brass bands struck up in frantic opposition, and the clock finished in confidence to those close to it. Then again the other day, when minute guns were being fired for the late Duke of Clarence and the mail flags floated at half-mast above it, that miserable clock struck up " The girl I left behind me," and after that went ri"ht through its repertoire, including "Annie Rooney," and ".Johnny comes marching home," and was starting again when something went wrong with the works, and it stopped in the middle of a high note with a suddenness that nearly lifted the policeman on the corner out of his boots. Sucli are some of the vagaries of our clock, but on Thursday last- it exliited a new phase of madness "which certainly had a serious aspect, and which caused consternation throughout the Post Office, and nearly scared three men into fits. About 12.15 these men, who were effect-ing-some of the repairs to the carrilons in°the tower, had occasion to remove a spindle connected with the clock work, from which depended a weight of 1 ton avoirdupois. In performing this operation it was necessary to secure an iron pinion which held in place the balancing fan, an affair like a ship s -screw, which revolves in the air when the weights arc lowered, and offers such resistance to tlieir gravity that they are prevented from falling too rapidly. Proper steps -were not taken to secure this pinion, the parts of the machine being ouly tied together by a thin piece of The result was that as soon as the spindle had been removed the fan was thrown out of gear, and, released from its counteracting influence, the shaft on which the rope holding the weight was twined commenced to revolve with frightful velocity, the whole ton weight being thrown entirely upon three small cog wheels, which were utterly incapable of supporting it. It was a most awkward predicament for the operatives, all of whom were confined within an enclosed wooden case, along with, the revolving wheels, not more than 3ft wide either way. They could positively do nothing but watch the rapid un- j

•winding of the coil, in dread of the consequences, for they had no more' chance of checking the process once begun than a.. man would have in stopping a windlass running out if the bucket ran away with it. Before they could well realise what was going on amidst the terrific whirr and the blinding dust which the rope raised in their cupboard-like encasement, several sharp snaps and resounding bursts occurred, caused by first the cogs of the wheels flying out of their places and shooting through the partition, and then great segments of the wheels themselves spinning off into the air with the frightful velocity of an exploded shell. One chunk went first through an inch and a half deal board as though it had been paper, and goius; upwards disappeared through the solid roof on to the leads. Other pieces, having gone through the encasement of the machinery, crashed out of the large tower windows and fell into the street below, accompanied by showers of broken glass. By the time they had about registered these facts in their minds, and had seen the clockwork crumbling up under their eyes, the whole commotion terminated by a thunderous report below, which seemed to shake the entire substantial building. Then, with scared white faces, they got out to take stock and see what had happened. The report was the noise made by the ton weight having fallen with tremendous momentum on a large bag of rubble which had been luckily in position beneath it on a floor about 30ft beneath. The rubble was tolerably well powdered by the contact, and the manager of the telegraph office, who was sitting in his room immediately below the rubble, was driven nearly distracted by the shock. He was under the impression that a recurrence of the earthquake reported the previous day had taken place, and that the General Post Office tower was about to fall on his unfortunate head, in which case the dual control of his branch, to which so much objection has been made, would have dramatically ceased. In every part of the premises the shock was felt, and every one hastened to ascertain the cause. No one was hurt. An inspection showed that altogether the damage will not involve the expenditure of more than to make good, which, considering the extremely perilous nature of tlie accident, is wonderful, for there was nothing to have prevented the iron sections of the wheels, which penetrated the boards and roof, from going through a man had one of the operatives been the least bit in the way, and had the ceiling of the telegraph manager's room not been supported by a brick arch, his end may be better imagined than described. A curious fact about the affair is that one of the bells struck when the weight fell, as in the nursery rhyme of "Dickory Dock," where "the clock struck one and down she came."