EXPLOSIONS AT AUCKLAND

Taranaki Daily News, 27 January 1934, Page 9

EXPLOSIONS AT AUCKLAND

MANY WINDOWS SHATTERED

ABANDONED SEWER MYSTERY. DARTING FLAMES; HEAVY SMOKE. NEW TUNNEL SAVES ROADWAY. By Telegraph—Press Association. Auckland, Jan. 26. Two explosions with the noise of a naval salvo, followed by the appearance of darting flames and heavy clouds of smoke, occurred at 3 o’clock this morning in an abandoned sewer in Albert Street. They shattered 25 windows in seven buildings. Had the workmen engaged on the drainage operations been on duty in the street at the time loss of life must have resulted. The precise cause of the explosion is puzzling experts. A tentative theory is that gas of some kind accumulated in the sewer and somehow was ignited. A resident in the locality says he noticed a smell at 10 o’clock last night, which he thought was sewer odour. A subsequent examination of a gas main which passes over the sewer revealed no leakage, and it is reported also that electric power cables in the vicinity are intact. Although the hour was early, a surprisingly large crowd of sightseers assembled after the explosion. The sewer, which is 14 feet below the surface of the street, was abandoned 15 years ago. City Council workmen had been driving a tunnel shaft in connection with storm water drainage. The view was expressed this morning that had this shaft not been driven and the explosion occurred the whole roadway would have been blown up.