HIGH POWER AND TELEPHONE LINE CONTACT.

Shannon News, 2 June 1925, Page 3

HIGH POWER AND TELEPHONE LINE CONTACT.

CONSIDERABLE DAMAGE NEAR SHANNON). An accident, in connection with the high-tension power line from Mungahao, which might have been attended with serious results, occurred on the main Shannon-Palmerston N. road, near the Kara Bridge on Friday afternoon. The transmission line at this point runs close to the P. and T. telephone wires. Blasting operations were in progress in the drain by the side of the road whence stumps were being removed, and a heavy explosion threw the telephone wires across the 11,000 volt line. The wires immediately short-circuited and people in the vicinity were treated to a brilliant pyrotechnic display, showers of' sparks flying from the crossed wires. 1 In three telephones in the vicinity (the Miranui mill and two others)., I the plugs blew out, and wires were fused. Fortunately there was no one using the phone at the moment or they would probably have received a severe shock. The Shannon exchange was not affected, as the current only blew hack as far as the cable box, placed there for the protection of the exchange apparatus. So strong was the current, however, that the plugs were blown out and split, and the' solder melted at the connections, the whole of the box being blackened in tlie interior.

Traffic on the road was delayed for some time, until the wires could be separated, some 20 to 30 cars being held up, drivers not caring to risk passing under the sparking wires which might have burned through at any moment. The danger of interfering in any way with the high-tension wires, although pretty well understood, cannot be too strongly emphasised. Accidents such as the foregoing are caused only by carelessness, but their possible seriousness is so great, that no unnecessary risk should be taken.