THE WANGANUI CABLE.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1669, 8 February 1913, Page 5

THE WANGANUI CABLE.

SOME INTERESTING DETAILS. ( Some interesting facts regarding ,-i • Wanganui cable, which was recently ro-. t paired by the Government'steamer Tu-i : tanckni, wire Supplied; to a'Dominion re- I porter' by. 1 Mr. J. ' Orchieton, chief telegraph; engineer to tho Post and - Telegraph Department. Tho two fault# in tlio cablo wliich nooessitated a visit byi j the Tutanckdi—there was no actual break . —wero found to bo each confined to a very'; shbrt length.' In two places,.'six miles apart, the rubber insulation % tho interlial core:of! tho. cable had been penetrated ~i for a few inches of it? lcngtn,.' 1 ;. Small ; marine worms wcro found insido the iron ; wire sheathing, ■ which forms the outer j protection of the cable, but it is not •- known whether thoy wero responsible for } the damage or not. They have boon preserved iii'sj)irit6, and will bo presentcd to ; i the Dominion Museum. 1 . 1 1 Tho repair work was carried' out very j expeditiously by the'staff aboard tho Tu-, .! tanokai. Sho left Wangataui oil a Satur- , day, grappled for tlio cable oil tho follow-..... ing day, and had completed the work of - repair by Wednesday. • , It is interesting,' to know that :Mr.- i Orchieton was present at the laying of the cable thirty-three years On Feb* j ruary 9, 1880, ho was engaged m testinj? >-i tho shore end of tho cable at Wangamif. v It was laid by the Telegraph Construe- J tion and Maintenance Company's steamer '. Kangaroo. Tho layiiig. of the cablo, was <5 completed l in 25 hours. As laid, it had a length of 188,2-3 knots, and pieces spliced i in during, tlio recent repairs nave increas- < ed its length -to 100 knots. A pieco of the cable which Mr. Orchis- j ton lifts brought, ashdro is in 1 a remark- . ably fino stato of preservation. It con- ■ sists of an internal core of fine'copper ;; wires sheathed.in rubber insulation, Out- i side this is, a coating of stout iron wiros. ■ When tho cablo was laid it was covered, ?, with a light wrapping of juto to protect it from injury during the process of; by- r \ ing. Even 1 this 1 wrapping was-found w be in good order when the 1 cablo was raised a few days ago, rind tho iron wires : show not;tho least trace of rust. Mr, Orchiston remarked tlmt the ue« ; j of the manganese in modern iron-Workj led to their turning out a product greatly i inferiov to that which used to be obtain- > able. No. cable manufactured by. modern. ' methods can'be Expected'to last as long ; or. as well as tltf . Waiigaimi cable As illustrating the deterioration in iron, Mr. i Orchiston. mentioned that-soino of tho'' ; s land wires erected from Lyttelton to tho ' Bluff in 1861 were still in good order and - likely to bo serviceable for some time, j These wires, where the.v passed throueli " citics, had. been renewed, but ill tlio -i oountry the original wires were still in ■: good.order. Oil, tho other hnrnl. some ' wires.erected as-recently as l!)os\vcro be-- I ing replaced lit tho present time. : ! .. j