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Manawatu Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 2665, 29 November 1923, Page 1

A discovery which nuty menu the unearthing of all the cables laid in Grcymouth when the mclnllie circuit was instituted has been made by the engineering branch of the Post and Telegraph Department on the section of cable going to Pobden. About 170 yards of this cable lying just outside the railway cleaning yards was found to be faulty, and investigation .made lend the officers to believe that a chemical substance in the soil is interfering with the cable, or that there are copper and iron present in the soil, and that liiese ad. on the lead like a positive battery. Excavations have been commenced and the work of relating an armoured enhle 1o replace the faulty section is being cariicd out. The Assistant Telegraph Engineer (Mr Bagge) states that he is quite at a loss to understand the trouble. A sample of the soil lias l.een forwarded to the Government Analyst, and it is hoped by Ibis means to discover what is the source of the trouble. If the defect is not merely local, and applies to all Ihe soil in Grcymouth, it will be necessary to excavate all the cables and replace them with armoured cables, built to resist chemical action. The Department is greatly puzzled over the phenomenon, which is stated to be unprecedented anywhere else in the Dominion.