NOVEL USE OF ROCKET

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18760, 17 July 1935, Page 16

NOVEL USE OF ROCKET

POWER LINE IN VALLEY GREAT SAVING EFFECTED 'Hie way in which a rocket had been used in connection with the erection ot an electric power line near Muriwai was described by the manager, Mr. A. Main, at a meeting of the Waitemata Electric Power Board at Auckland.

"The last high-tension span on the Muriwai extension passes from the lop of the cliff overlooking the beach, over a heavily-timbered valley to the transformer structure on the Beach road," Mr. Main said. "Considerable difficulty would have been encountered in carry ing the line across in the usual way by cutting a track through the bush, and in addition damage to the native bush would have resulted.

"Through the courtesy of the Auckland harbormaster, Captain 11. 11. Sergeant," added Mr. Main, "arrangements were made for the loan of the Harbor Board's rocket-firing apparatus, and a line, was fired over a span from the cliff to the road, a distance of 250 yards. The experiment proved very successful and the three high-tension conductors were pulled over in 70 minutes, a job which otherwise would have taken the best part of two days."