STARTLING ACCIDENT

Hokitika Guardian, 30 December 1925, Page 4

STARTLING ACCIDENT

1 “ SOMETHING LIKK A R0MI1.” * WELUXCiTON, December 2S. " Free air ” is a familiar sign to motorists, and is provided by an air compressor plant which in the case of a Lambton Quay establishment went wrong to-day with startling results. Apparently a safety valve on a stor- ] age reservoir failed to function on a 1 plant used by the Firestone Tire Com-j puny in heater's building. The air! compressor, which is worked by a mo- 1 tor-driven pump, is located in a recess I under the stairway in a back room used : as a storeroom, and is so constructed as to be capable of withstanding pressure up to 2501 b to the square inch, j When the pressure reaches 2001 b the ■ safety valve should come into plav, but apparently it must have jammed, and ; ns the pump kept on working the tank 1 containg air burst with tremendous . force. { The end of the tank, a thick metal . cap about ten inches or one foot in ; diameter, and weighing about 61b, was 1 blown out and hurtled across the room I smashing the timbers of a bunk atInched to one of the walls and being : twisted out of shape. A lead pipe on * a big gas meter close by was blown I off and the fittings of the meter dam- ! aged, causing nil escape of gas. Hig h electrical meters on the wall used for j j measuring power and light were j I wrenched olf and twisted about, while I : the door was so twisted and split that I it could only he pushed partially oiteii ii

by force. Tile concrete and plaster on ■: parts of the wall in the room itself were cracked considerably, while a eon- j i departmental work. Deductions in staff are said to be contemplated, but are likely to follow than than preeede cuts in other directions. FAST OF THF. CHATHAM. The cruUer Chatham the first rruieor of the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy, has arrived at Devon- j jj port, and has completed what will pro- j !; habl v be her last voyage as a comm is- ’ i; sioiit-d ship. The Effingham has relief- . ed her as flagship in the East Indies, i jj and has thus ended her active service career, for as soon ns possible she will be paid off on to the sale list. Her | sister-ships, the Dublin and Southnmp- j

ton, also- share this fate. Those wore tho three cruisers authorised in the Navy Estimates in 1910. The Chatham was built at Chatham Dockyard between January, 1911, and December, 1912, her machinery being provided by the Thames Ironworks. She served in tho Mediterranean and lied Sea in the early part of the war. and was engaged in the operations against- the German cruiser Konigsbcr." in the Rufigi River, East Africa. Eater she was at the Dardanelles, and for a time was flagship of Admiral AVemyss. She afterwards returned to the Grand Fleet, and was flagship of Admiral Allen Hunt at the surrender of the German Fleet in November. 1018. In 1920 the Chatham was commissioned for service in Now Zealand.