London Menaced by Gas Explosions

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 567, 21 January 1929, Page 1

London Menaced by Gas Explosions

SUBTERRANEAN PERIL

ENGINEER S GRIM PROPHES\

{tufted P A.—Bp lelctjraph — Copyright) i Australian ard S.Z. Press Association* (L'nited Servicet Reed. 9.5 am. LONDON'. Saturday. Londoners are alarmed at the peril from subterranean upheav als, of which there have been 14 in four months, causing two deaths and numerous injuries. The damage caused is estimated at £ 500,000. The most serious explosion was in High Holborn on December 20, when half a mile of roadway was torn up and 17 people were severely injured. Beneath the flimsy crust of London’s streets lies 4.000 miles of gas mains and over 9,000 of water-mains, drains and tunnels. Mr. Alan Campbell Swintou, the well-known engineer. declares that London is a glaring example to newer cities of how thing.-, should not be done. "I do not wish to be an alarmist.” he says, “but I am certain that we have not yet experienced the last or tlio most terrible upheaval. London suffers owing to its own long history. Companies have laid pipes and mains at different times as the city expanded. There are at least three gas mrins under Piccadilly. In the meantime the weight and speed of traffic has increased. Pipes crack, joints loosen, ana leakages occur which the most careful inspection cannot disclose until it is too late. “The modern system of laying ele:n*ic cables in bitumen should be con demned. The wires fuse, giving off a highly explosive bitumenous gas. Tunnels are equally dangerous. There is a tunnel running the whole length of the embankment which few know was filled with gas and nearly exploded during the war. “All pipes and cables should be laid in trenches under the pavement and roadw'ay under large slabs, and on girders, so that they are easily accessible for repairs and inspection without disorganising the traffic. “Naturally it would be enormously costly to attempt to do it now." b*' concludes. MIRACULOUS ESCAPES FLAMES SPURT HIGH ABOVE PAVEMENT {United Service) LONDON, Saturday. Another gas explosion has occurred beneath a London street. The windows of two shops in High Street. Lee. were blown out. The passers-by had miraculous escapes. The flames spurted high above the pavement, and the firemen took over an hour to subdue them.