NEW STRAIT CABLE

Hokitika Guardian, 29 March 1926, Page 4

NEW STRAIT CABLE

FOR TELEPHONE SERVICE. COMPLETION OF WORK. WELLINGTON, March 20. At nine o’clock this morning the linal touches were put to the splicing of tile new Cook Strait telephone cable, and at a point a little distance otf Blind River the last loop of joined* up line dropped over the nows of the 'J ulanckai, the Government cablelaying steamer. As it dtspapeared in the sea cameras clicked amt the weary nut happy cahle-iaymg stall' heaved sighs ul relief that the .job, ttie biggest yet attempted by the New Zealand Telegraph Department, had been carried through without a hitch.

A short length of cable laid been laid from tue, .South Island terminal on .Monday and buoyed offshore. Then the Tutanekai returned to Lyall Bay, intending to make a start at daylight on Wednesday with the main portion ol the work of laying of thirty miles ol cable from the Wellington end. Heavy southerly weather, however, precluded any chance of proceeding satisfactorily with such a task, and the steamer waited for the sea to go down. Thursday morning found ttie gale gone and the sea wonderfully quietened. with a. light, northerly breeze blowing. At six o’eoek the Tutanekai pul the Lyall Bay end of the cable over and the ship's launch and a surf Iniat snaked it shoreward. As the cable was paid out over the how sheave barrelwere lashed to it to keep it from sinking to the bottom and so making the haul too heavy. ’When the stir! was reached the launch east off and leit the work of getting the cable through broken water to the boat. It was heavy pulling, lint the boatmen are expert at this sort of thing, and under Mr Williams, one of the snip's officers, the cable was brought to shore, where a staff of telegraph men were waiting in tail on to the hauling line and drag the cable up the beach, where it was made fast. The end was then opened up fur connection to instruments temporarily installed in a shed lor the purpose of noting conditions in the cable. The ship party then went aboard the Tutanekai. having a damp passage through the surf. At 8.30 the ship heaved up anchor and began the thirty mile journey to the other sitle of the Strait. The cable passed from the hold in which it had heen carefully slowed around the drum of the rotometer, which measured the length, then through another instrument which recorded the tensile strain exerted by tlie*leiigth depending from the ship, and finally over a large; sheave at the foroeaste head, whence it trailed away into the sea. Office!s on the bridge took Irequent observations of various landmarks, so that the ship's course could be plotted exactly on the chart and the line followed by the cable permanently recorded. I he ship end of the cable was connected up with testing instruments, by means of which imperfections in the cable, il any developed, could lie detected and measures taken to locate and remedy them. Those tests were made every few minutes, and at intervals a telephone was substituted For the delicate testing apparatus, and speech could he held with the Lyall Bay watchers. In both voumo and clearness ol sou ml. despite the necessarily imperfect mako„liift nature of the conditions, the words came wonderfully well over the cable to those on the ship out in the Strait. About, live o’clock, the ship having n ine almost exactly to the desired spot, (.he buoy marking the end ol the southern shore cable was picked up and hauled aboard. Two exports were pul ashore Lo co-operate with the ships stall' in making the linal tests, and as the weather held line it was decided to go straight, ahead with I he worn of joining up. I’he main cable, of

which portion remained in the ship’s hold, was cut, and the armouring and protective coverings of the actual telephone conductors in the centre were laid back for some distance. Exhaustive tests of these conductors, four small copper wires, about number thirteen standard gauge in size, followed to see that everything was in thorough order, and the work of splicing began. It was- a delicate task, which continued throughout the night and early - morning. The outer coverings were then replaced and strongly reinforced bv additional heavy iron wire armour. That done, the cable was dropped overboard and the -ship returned to Wellington, after making a call at Lvnll Bay to pick up the mark buoys which bad been left there yesterday. This, in brief, is the story of the laying of the latest Cook .Strait cable which is intended primarily for telephone work only, though at a pinch it could be used for ordinary telegraphic traffic. The shore connections are not yet complete, but it is expected that' by next week two of the conductors will he in position to maintain telephonic communication between Melliiigton, Blenheim and Nesou during the~ whole twenty-four hours of the dav. Later on all the North. Island and South Island telephone stations will enjoy ibis advantage. Captain .1. Rollons, master of tho Tutanekai, was in charge of the. work of laying the' cable, assisted by Captain W. Whiteford, of tho Marine Department. whoso special task was to make 'constant observations fixing the ship’s course. Associated with them in elm roe of tho technical work were Messrs A. Gibbs. Acting Chief Telegraph Engineer. I’. Miles, Cable and Equipment Engineer, and A. Ballons. Assistant Electrician. Representing the contractors for the supply of the cable. Messrs Siemens Brothers, Limited, were Messrs A. Hollowa\, technical expert, and 0. AY. Salmon, of the firm’s New Zealand agents. The Telegraph Department’s technical stall' had a very arduous time of it and me to he congratulated upon having carried the job through successfully without anything in the nature ol troublesome hitch