VIOLENT EXPLOSION

Hokitika Guardian, 17 May 1929, Page 8

VIOLENT EXPLOSION

ELECTRIC POWER CUT OFF. AUCKLAND, May 15. With loud detonations, accompanied by vivid blue Hashes, two iron manhole tops covering the system of electric cables in Hobson Street were blown out at 11.30 o’clock last evening. The force of the explosion was such that the cast iron covering beneath the paving was shattered like so many pieces of shrapnel and scattered about the roadway for its full width. The metal in places was about two inches in thickness, and the fragments ranged in size from pieces ol a pound or two in weight to mere .splinters of iron.

The detonations wore not simultaneous ,one following the other at an interval of several minutes. Policemen on duty in the quarter kept a watch over the holes with torches, warning motor traffic until the arrival of repair gangs.

The electric cables underground feed the power to overhead wires and the blowouts cut off the power on the lines from the intersection of Queen Street and Customs Street practically to Pitt Street. Nine trams returning to the depot were held up in Customs Street until a. partial service was restored shortly before one o’clock this morning. Another tramcar was without power in Hobson Street, near Victoria Street, for a similar period.