UNDERGROUND WIRES.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 207, 26 May 1908, Page 9

UNDERGROUND WIRES.

: NEW TELEPHONE WIRE SYSTEM. .; TO RELIEVE STRESS ON POLES. . ' A good many people have ■ pulled up at . yarioun parts of Customhouse Quay within 'the last; few days to glance at the work ; of unusual character that is proceeding in that" thoroughfare. This .consists of the construction of a concrete channel in which are being • laid the wood . fibre ducts' that are .to carry the new underground telephone :wiros. to afford relief to several of the posts ;ih • mid-city that are known "to be over- • burdened. This work, lias been proceeding quietly ; during the last four months, during which time a good deal of ground has been covered. The first section was that leading ■ .from tho Telephone Exchango along Whitmoro Street,' across Lambton Quay, up Bowon Street" to' the Wellington Terrace, T'hor.Bccpnd. section undertaken is tho ono now under construction. . This leads from the Exchange into Customhouse Quay, where, opposite the General Post Office, tho work may be seen in progress. . At that . point tho bottom of tho 'channel is only trom two to three feet below the level of the road, which has yet .to be blocked up •to the-level of the railway metals, which run to ,the. channel. Owing to tho nature .'of ,the, ground which lias, been reclaimed from the harbour -it was deemed " •advisable to make! the" channel shallow, and so tho eighteen cylindrical ducts are' laid in two rows of nine each) which are being 'consolidated .in that position by 'a- topcoating of ;concrete. .Each! of 'these eighteen \ aucts will contain three-leaden cables of ■ eStri. largo size,' each of which weighs . -abo\\t,;l7 itons ; to' tho.. .. , , Owing, to. this great-weight, and the ten-. ; silo"'strength' -of "lead . being - weak, it ■ hasbeen 'found necessary to sink manholes- at . approximately "400 "feet apart, in'order that the'"cableß',may be pulled through in short' 1 ' sections, and to ■ facilitate repairs should anything go wrong with an.v of the' wires. One of. those manholes is being constructed near the Brandon Street entrance to the Queen's Wharf, another lias been sunk opposite Messrs. W. and G. Turnbull and Co.'a warehouse,; and .vet another.is completed in the yicinity of ,the Customhouse. This lead or chauncl is to be continued along .Tervois Quay, 'past the tramwavs ■ power-house ■ into ' Victoria Street, and straight' along . that thoroughfare to Cambridge Terrace, and so on.to Newtown, the ,nuiiil)or of . ducts being-lessened as the busi- ' r nefiP', is. left - behind. \ A lead will branch" ;-d(T J ,Jr.pm. this ..main at;, Tajanaki Street, to v -continue along that street ; for. tho ToAro flat.'- service.' Another lead ,isto be taken from the Exchange up; Featherston Street. The laying underground of the teleph6no' wires does not mean - that tho poles aro to come down, as there must be stations here and,':there, where-the wires are conductedaloft iV ''for, distribution ,to subscribers. It, ;will, relieve, tho stress,on poles that aro .'or': were.. (Mrrying'.cfiiore than they, should,','and. is.,a wise provision for the future.'- ' T'v '■ ;'; : r'