POWER FAILURE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 25 August 1938, Page 6

POWER FAILURE

EXTENSIVE AREA OF ISLAND AFFECTED. LEAKAGE ON WAIKAREMOANA LINE. Practically the whole of the Wellington and Hawke’s Bay provinces were affected by a power failure last evening, owing to ’aj switch being thrown out at Napier. In Wellington all direct power was cut off for half an hour. Masterton was blacked out for about twelve minutes, the power failing here at about 6.30 p.m. Power was restored, however, to the Masterton Hospital and to Carterton and Greytown within a minute, the supply being drawn from Kourarau. The interruption was caused by a switch being thrown out in Napier. The switch cut out automatically and in due course was reconnected. The immediate result, however, was that the whole inter-connected electricity supply system of the North Island was affected. Waikaremoana was disconnected; this threw an overload on Arapuni, which was unable to carry it, and was also cut off, leaving Mangahao to carry the entire load. The surge of voltage on the lines threw out the generators'in the Wairarapa. Napier authorities 'traced the trouble to some leakage in the power relays on the Waikaremoana line. The first indication of something wrong was when the voltage dropped from 3,300 to 1,700 at-the sub-station, and remained so for 10 minutes.