A New Danger.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 5015, 24 May 1889, Page 2

A New Danger.

A new theory of the fire at the Melbourne Bijou has been raised. It is suggested that the fire may have been originated by the accidental contact of the telephone and electric wires. Slight outbreaks of fire from this cause have been alarmingly frequent of late s and it is anticipated that as the electric system is extended accidents of this nature will increase in proportion. Out of the numerous cases of the kind which have been reported one may be cited. The telephone of a largo business firm, carrying on business in Elizabeth street and at South Melbourne, has been twice destroyed by the sudden fusing of the wires. ,On each occasion a jot of flame fully 18in in length shot out from the instrument, and the woodwork of the telephone at each end was instantly destroyed. Had anyone been using the instrument there can be no doubt that the effect would have been immediately fatal. A complaint was made to the telegraph authorities, and a reply was received that the fire was caused by the wires of the electric lighting company, which by contract with the poslal department, are carried overhead on the telegraph poles with the telephone wire. As the department had a permanent contract with the electric lighting company no remedy was possible. Mr James (general manager of tho telegraph branch) admits that this account is substantially true. There have, he says, been several similar outbreaks since the electric wires were first put up some months ago,and there is always a possibility of fusion wherever tho two wires cross.