GAS IN A STONE WALL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22221, 23 September 1935, Page 12

GAS IN A STONE WALL

CASHMERE HILLS MYSTERY,

AUiRM TO WORKMEN ;

Hissing loudly as it gushes through cracks in the rock, what is thought to be some kind of gas, but which tn&y prove to be only air, has forced it* way through a stone wall and a roadwav on the Cashmere Hills, Christchurch, near the Sign of the Takahe. Dr. R. S. Allen, lecturer in geology at Canterbury College, who collected samples of the gas, says he is inclined to believe that it is just air, escaping under pressure from some rock cavity where it has been imprisoned by water draining down the. hill side. He is making an analysis of the humpies. The noise of the escaping gas alarmed workmen employed near thtt spot where the discharge is taking place. Dr. Allen says he does not Believe that the discharge is caused by, volcanic action or from a natural g#s deposit, as there is no volcanic inemtration about the vents and the g&s ia cold and odourless. For thirty yards up the road the gas can be seen and heard bubbling through thin mud in crevices in the stone. In one place it is issuing from a crack in the concrete gutter channelling with considerable force. There are four main vents."