LONDON GAS EXPLOSION

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11026, 24 December 1928, Page 5

LONDON GAS EXPLOSION

SEASONAL BUSINESS RUINED TERRIBLE DAMAGE. United Press Assn —By Electric Telegraph—Copyright. LONDON, December 22. Tile. Daily Alail asks who. is to pay for the damage of the Holborn explosion. Alany buildings arc badly damaged and the shopkeepers’ Christmas trade hais been ruined, ■while hundreds of families are temporarily homeless. The Holborn borough council is sending the bill to the Gas Company and advises private individuals to. do likewise. The company says it will pass on the hi lies to the Post Office.. The Post Office says nothing. It seems, inevitable there, will he a crop of legal actions before the responsibility is fixed and the claims met. LONDON. December 22. The fire brigade estimated that 2100 feet of roadway and 20 buildings were damaged by the High Holborn explosion, while 1,680,000 feet, or three tons of celluloid film were destroyed at the premises of the Overseas Film Services Limited. A rough estimate of the total damage to places involved in the wreckage, is about £200,000. The question o.f liability is 'likely to he most complicated. The gas company blames the Post Office. The town clerk of Holborn expresses the opinion that the gas company must restore the thoroughfares. Business people and residents find consolation in t’nfe Home office announcement that it is definitely hokV ing an inquiry. The Home Office has appointed a commission of three members to report on the Holborn streets explosion. with a view to preventing a res currencev It is explained that tney will have nothing to do with the legat responsibility being concerned only with the discovery of the caiu.se and the decision whether further safeguards are necessary. Britain has not known anything like th e gas explosion. A district of a mile long and half a mile wide will b© deprived of every public service for some weeks. Th© traffic dislocation was the worst in London's history. Business is at a standstill. Repairs will cost £50,000. Seventeen people are in hospital. A manhole cover, weighing four hundredweight, was thrown into, the air. crashed on the roof of a three-story house and cam© to rest in a bed on the first floor. A torrent o/f fire roared fifty feet, in the air from the crater. The Highstreet fissure several hundred yards long, spurted file.