TOO MUCH WATER.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 10447, 28 August 1905, Page 1

TOO MUCH WATER.

Londoners had an unpleaisanb rcmiudcja few weeks ago of the inconvenience of civilsation. About half-past eight, thc hour when the nightly reiga of pleasure commences in earnest, a portion of thc wood-blocked roadway at the corner of Lower Regent Street and Piccadilly Circus, nearly opposite tlie famous Criterion Restaurant, soared skyward. The propelling force wan the water in a big water main, which inconsiderately burst its iron bonds and played the part of a miniature geyser, tp the great discomfort of a large number of people. Piccadilly itself speedily became a more or less ornamental lake, and Lower Regent Street, wliich falls very rapidly towards Pall Mall, a. miniature Niagara. The theatre was speedily isolated us far as its Piccadilly entrance was concerned, tho foyer of an adjacent theatre was flooded, and the huge mixed traffic of the Circus had to be diverted to' the by-ways near at hand, thus causkig innumerable exasperating blocks in the surrounding area. But the mischief did not end there. The bunst main was the principal source of hydraulic power over a very large district. Iu consequence of the accident, practically all tho lifts in many big hotels and blocks of residential flats became inoperative. At one theatre the fireproof curtaiu, wliich is operated by hydraulic power, descended of its own accord, and steadfastly refused to be coaxed back to thc "flies," so there was nothing for it but to suspend the performance and dismiss the audience with, a sorrowful intimation tliat tlve money would be returned at tho doors. What with gas and electric light and power mains buried side by side, hydraulic and water-mains, tube railways, ten-feet sewers, and telephone and telegraph wire conduits honeycombing subterranean London, the possible consequences to the capital of a big earthquake ore terrible to contemplate. Happily, tho Mother Country is not subject to serious earth disturbances, but even as it is, London is not allowed to forget the danger of its subterranean t unnelHiigs.