GAS EXPLOSIONS

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 37, 14 February 1933, Page 8

GAS EXPLOSIONS

SAAR VALLEY DISASTER

NOT LIKELY IN NEW ZEALAND

There is little, if any, possibility of a gas explosion of the magnitude of that reported from Neunkirchen, in the Saar Valley, occurring in New Zealand. That is the opinion of the Chief Inspector of Explosives (Mr. E. Girling Butcher), who in an interview with the "Post," said that the chances were so remote as to be almost an. impossibility. Through the lack of technical details in the cablegram telling the tragic story of the explosion, Mr. Girling Butcher was unable to discuss the possible cause. He was firmly of the opinion, however, that the container did not hold coal gas, but probably water gas. He pointed out that coal gas, to become explosive, needed the addition of six times as much air as gas. If coal gas became diluted to such an extent, the fact would be well known to the workmen because of the difficulty of maintaining the service. He pointed out that when Scarborough was shelled by German cruisers during the war, a shell landed'on. top of a gasometer. Instead of an explosion following, the gas merely burned. The cablegram. attributed the cause of the explosion to a minor explosion in a petrol tank. Such an accident could not'happen in New Zealand, continued ■Mr. Girling Butcher, because the petrol storage regulations prevented petrol being stored close to gas holders. Speaking of the general conditions in respect of gas containers in New Zealand, Mr. Girling Butcher said that all the gasometers were of modern design and gave no cause for alarm. The gas companies had to maintain them well in their own interests, for leaks represented losses. ' All New Zealand gas works were in good situations in that they were set in fairly large areas of land some distance from houses. One other way in which New Zealand was fortunate was that it was not a country subject to severe lightning, and so another risk was greatly reduced. "It simply amounts to this," he said, "it is next door to impossible for a gasometer to explode. Coal gas is the only gas which is stored in any quantity in New Zealand, the number of works manufacturing other, gases being very small."