WINTER WEATHER.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 14667, 26 July 1918, Page 2

WINTER WEATHER.

AND INTERRUPTED TELEGRAPHS.

a4N THIS^ BE AVOIDED?

(Special to the Herald.) ■ / WELLINGTON, this day. This snow storms played havoc with the? dominion's system or telegraph communication between the two islands. The Weak spots are m Marlborough tmd North 'Canterbury, and j as v a result of the breakdown thousands of telegrams between the North Sbutli' Jiiands have bad to be sent by steamer ftfoin one island to the other; Even this slow system has, been made slower by the weather,' for the trips have been longer than usual, one of the Mararoa's runs to Lyttelton taking 22 hours. Business men are asking v this almost annual trouble could be avoided by improvements m tho telegraph lines, or an alteration m the route.. Your correspondent made inquiries at the General Post Office, starting^ with the Postmaster-General, and gathered that the -Department regards it as almost" impossible r "to provide against such terrific weather as has're^ eently been experienced m North Can-! terbury. , 'We have tried using alternate poles of iron-bark and concrete," explained the Hon. W. D. S. Mac Donald, "and m the recent snow storm tha conorete poles. were broken down worse than those of wood. No Government can j provide against extraordinary snow storms, or, floods. Underground con-; duits are hopelessly impossible on this route, . and <we have also to remember that there are demands for expenditure' on telegraph and telephone linos all over' the dominion, m excess of, our monetary' Resources,, so that there is- a limit io* ,\jvhat'can be spent on this line." ' Tlie Secretary of the Post Office, Mr' W,,.R. Morris, stated that as a result: <? f past years' experiences, the.Department had constructed "one strong line through, the rough country, but it was Hot proof against the severity of the enpystbrms m, the Waiau and Whalesbarik^country:' The telegraph linesmen had been working there up to their Waists in.snqw, to put things right, and "9 those, who criticised from the Vantage poiht of warm , arm chairs VWIA „-§f ive these , men credit for their s P^ndid wbr"k m restoring communica,tions. The Chief Telegraph Engineer, Mr.A: Shrimpton, had been on the route himself, and when he returned, would report on the possibility of improving it, and possibly adopting a more sheltered alternative line. The Depart- • ment had requisitioned for a thousand new poles for' the North Canterbury VP. u .te, and 600 .had already been supplied. The experience of this winter had shown that iron bark poles were'in every respect superior to other types. ,As for the possibility of making communications quite "weather proof," Mr Morris was sceptical. ,He pointed out that it is a world-wide trouble. England and America were advanced m the science of telegraph comunication, but. had not been able to get over the possibility of- interruptions when the weather, was exceptionally severe. It would be just as reasonable to complain of carelessness m connection with the loss of sheep -by the snow as to -blame the engineers "for the failure of the wires under the trehieridbus loads of snow' which accumulated upon them. The in-* teryiewer wag 'referred 'to technical publications which proved that m America the same difficulties Were experienced annually, and had not been overcome. Canada, has developed. an unique system of getting oyeir" the $tiow over-loading By linhitching the' .wires during a ",'. sno,w stortii,'; 'and .lading them on the dry snow. A 'modificatibn''of;'this' rsystem '^'.is , m use m. sparsely populated parts of Otago, where the wires are pdrposely hung not more than eight feat from the ground. When 'the 1 show "balls" around -the wires,; -and they sag, they meet the snow drift towards Hhe centre of the' span. This ! takes most of the heo-vy witght, and the poles are saved from wreckage. The present 'trouble Ms eaid to be the woTSt since 1851, and the men Who have these problems always before them giyo very litlo i hope of '• making' the lines abßpllitely proof .againßt the wealhcr when it sets out toVdo its worst. . ;: -•'"■ ' /